San Diego Union-Tribune

AZARENKA INTO 4TH ROUND

- MELBOURNE, Australia

Before Victoria Azarenka had a chance to analyze both players she might meet next, a question was posed to her son about the two-time Australian Open champion’s third-round performanc­e.

Five-year-old Leo, wearing his sunglasses in the news conference room and sitting on his mother’s knee, responded succinctly: “Awesome!” Thanks, kid. Azarenka’s own highlights from her 6-0, 6-2 win over 15thseeded Elina Svitolina on Friday (Thursday night San Diego time) included the “amount of aggressivi­ty I could bring point after point, applying a lot of pressure, the consistenc­y. The break points I faced, I played really strong.”

“Yeah, taking control of my end of the court,“she added. “I think that’s what I’m more happy about.”

She’ll next play French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova, who rallied from a set and a break down against No. 26-seeded Jelena Ostapenko to win 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 and advance to the fourth round in singles at Melbourne Park for the first time.

The 24th-seeded Azarenka, who won the title at Melbourne Park in 2012 and 2013 and has been a U.S. Open finalist three times, is into the fourth round here for the first time since 2016 after extending her winning record to 5-0 against Svitolina.

She accumulate­d nearly twice as many winners, 17, as unforced errors, nine, and never faced a break point. Svitolina made mistake after mistake, 26 unforced errors in all.

Since a quarterfin­al run in Australia in 2016, Azarenka lost first-round matches last year and in 2019, and missed the hard-court tournament in 2017, 2018 and 2020.

The 32-year-old former world No. 1 from Belarus is feeling comfortabl­e right now, fulfilling the dual roles of player and mother in Melbourne.

Azarenka was asked if it was more demanding, distractin­g or relaxing to have her son with her on the tour.

“All of the above,” she said, laughing, as Krejcikova and Ostapenko were playing. “It’s definitely not a distractio­n, I will never say that. Being a parent is not easy. He’s full of personalit­y — I don’t know where he gets it from!”

Leo flipped his tournament credential around on its lanyard as his mother responded to questions from within the room and online. He yawned at least once and blew air onto the microphone.

“I always feel privileged that I’m able to have him here,” Azarenka said. “These kind of moments are really priceless for me. To be able for me to

share that with my son is pretty incredible.”

In other results on Day 5, fifth-seeded Maria Sakkari beat No. 28 Veronika Kudermetov­a 6-4, 6-1 to move into a fourth-round match against 21st seed Jessica Pegula of the U.S., who beat Nuria Parrizas Diaz 7-6 (3), 6-2.

Eighth-seeded Paula Badosa advanced with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 win over Marta Kostyuk.

Late Wednesday (San Diego time), Daniil Medvedev faced a hostile crowd and a full array of Nick Kyrgios’ outbursts and tricks, and still remained calm for long enough to reach the third round.

The 115th-ranked Kyrgios worked up the crowd, hit ‘tweeners and drop shots, mixed up the pace of his groundstro­kes and tossed in an under-arm serve in a bid to ruffle the second-ranked Russian.

Medvedev kept his composure, taking a quick trip to the locker room after losing the third set and recovering to win

7-6 (1), 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 on a rowdy Rod Laver Arena.

Other second-round winners among the men included fourth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas beating Sebastian Baez 7-6 (1), 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4, No. 5 Andrey Rublev, No. 15 Roberto Bautista Agut, No. 20 and San Diego native Taylor Fritz, 2014 U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic and No. 32 Alex de Minaur. Australian wild-card entry Chris O’Connell upset 13thseeded Diego Schwartzma­n 7-6 (6), 6-4, 6-4.

Five-time runner-up Andy Murray only lasted two rounds.

Two days after winning his first match at the Australian Open in five years, the former No. 1 lost to 120th-ranked Taro Daniel 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

On the women’s side, U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu lost a night match to Danka Kovinic 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

Kovinic has reached the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time and will next play two-time major champion Simona Halep.

 ?? ANDY BROWNBILL AP ?? Two-time Australian Open champ Victoria Azarenka hits a backhand to Elina Svitolina. Azarenka advanced to the fourth round for the first time since 2016.
ANDY BROWNBILL AP Two-time Australian Open champ Victoria Azarenka hits a backhand to Elina Svitolina. Azarenka advanced to the fourth round for the first time since 2016.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States