Pegula, Gauff win but Collins ousted
The American women move into the fourth round but last year’s finalist is eliminated.
MELBOURNE, Australia — Jessica Pegula cruised into the fourth round of the Australian Open on Friday with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Marta Kostyuk.
The third-seeded Pegula, a quarterfinalist the last two years at Melbourne Park, needed 65 minutes for victory as the American set up a round-of-16 match against Barbora Krejcikova, the 2021 French Open champion.
“I thought I just didn’t give away a lot of free points,” Pegula said. “I was playing aggressive when I had to but also smart. Happy to be through to the next round.“
Last year’s finalist, Danielle Collins, of the U.S. was beaten 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 by Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina but Coco Gauff later swept past fellow American Bernarda Pera 6-3, 6-2.
Krejcikova was the first player to advance to the fourth round after a 6-2, 6-3 win over Anhelina Kalinina to open play Friday.
The 20th-seeded Czech player won the first five games of the match and dominated her Ukrainian opponent. Krejcikova has not dropped a set in three matches.
In men’s play, Stefanos Tsitsipas will take on Jannik Sinner in the fourth round.
Third-seeded Tsitsipas saved a set point in the second set but beat Tallon Griekspoor 6-2, 7-6 (5), 6-3 to reach the last 16 at Melbourne Park for the third time in four years. Sinner recovered from two sets down for the first time in his career as he beat Marton Fucsovics 4-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-0 after 3 hours, 33 minutes, winning the last 12 games.
“For sure the first two sets were very tough for me,” the 21-year-old Italian and 15th-seeded player said. “I went on court with one tactic, then I had to change a little bit, going a little more to his backhand. We made a lot of work in the offseason physically so today I was good physically in the last few sets.”
Tsitsipas is the highestranked player left in the men’s draw after the exits of No. 1 Rafael Nadal and No. 2 Casper Ruud.