Pliskova, Konta continue winning runs

MELBOURNE, Australia — U.S. Open finalist Karolina Pliskova has carried her titlewinning form in the warmup tournament into the season’s first major, dropping just four games en route to the third round at the Australian Open.

Pliskova was leading 6-0, 4-0 against Anna Blinkova in the second round on Thursday before the 18-year-old Russian qualifier, ranked 189th, held serve and later held up her arm to acknowledge the cheers from the crowd. Pliskova finished off the 6-0, 6-2 in less than an hour — she won her first-round match 6-2, 6-0.

She will next play Jelena Ostapenko, who beat No. 31 Yulia Putintseva 6-3, 6-1.

Johanna Konta, who made a surprising run to the semifinals in her Aussie debut last year before losing to eventual champion Kerber, advanced to the third round with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Naomi Osaka.

Konta will next play former No. 1-ranked Caroline Wozniacki, the U.S. Open semifinalist last September. Wozniacki was broken while serving for the match against Donna Vekic, but immediately broke back at love to win 6-1, 6-3.

WTA Finals winner Dominika Cibulkova held off Hsieh Su-wei 6-4, 7-6 (8) and will next play No. 30 Ekaterina Makarova, who was leading 6-2, 3-2 when Sara Errani retired because of a leg injury.

No. 21 Caroline Garcia beat Oceane Dodin 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-4.

In men’s second-round matches, No. 15 Grigor Dimitrov had a 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win over Chung Hye-on and will next play No. 18 Richard Gasquet, who beat Carlos Berlocq 6-1, 6-1, 6-1.

No. 13 Roberto Bautista Agut beat Yoshihito Nishioka 6-2, 6-3, 6-3, No. 25 Gilles Simon advanced in straight sets over Rogerio Dutra Silva and No. 32 Philipp Kohlschreiber beat Donald Young 7-5, 6-3, 6-0.