Defending champion Victoria Azarenka is through to the third round of the Australian Open after a routine win over Barbora Zahlavova Strycova.
Azarenka raced through the opening set and although she was made to work hard in the second she came through unscathed on Rod Laver Arena.
The second seed eventually won 6-1 6-4 but she will have a few concerns over the fact she was broken twice in the second set as Strycova valiantly battled on.
Azarenka was guilty of making 18 unforced errors as Strycova looked to claw her way back into the match however she crucially broke the Czech's resistance in the ninth game of the second set before serving out for the win.
"I feel pretty good. I think it was a good match today," said Azarenka.
"The second set was really competitive as Barbara played really well.
Hit back
"She was defending so well I kept thinking, 'oh my gosh she got that one, she got that one' and then she'd pass me. But I felt I was playing pretty good and I am glad to have closed it out in two sets."
Sloane Stephens avoided an upset on Margaret Court Arena as she edged out Ajla Tomljanovic in three sets.
The 13th seed looked set to be on her way out of the tournament as Tomljanovic served for the match, however Stephens hit back to win 3-6 6-2 7-5.
From 5-3 down in the decider, Stephens rattled off four games on the bounce to secure a third-round match with Elina Svitolina, who had beaten Olivia Rogowska 6-4 7-5 earlier in the day.
No comments:
Post a Comment