Australian Open 2021: Day 4– Barty, Bencic, Pliskova all advance to the third round, Kenin bites the dust
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Day 4 of the Australian Open had some fantastic tennis, mind blowing excitement and a lot of drama as well. Ash Barty, Belinda Bencic, Karolina Pliskova all made it into the third round, but the defending champion Sofia Kenin was ousted.
Ash Barty toughs it out
Barty playing with a heavily strapped left thigh overcame a spirited performance by Daria Gavrilova to win 6-1 7-6. While it was a straightforward first set, the second set was a challenge for Barty. She struggled for rhythm and consistency, but did enough to claim victory. In the third round, Next up for Barty is Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova.
Belinda Bencic grows in confidence
Bencic needed 5 match points to put away the tenacious Svetlana Kuznetsova. Bencic played a decent first set, but started to tire in the second set which she lost. But came back strongly in the third to defeat Kuznetsova 7-5 2-6 6-4. Bencic will come up against Elise Mertens for a place in the 4 the round.
Karolina Pliskova sails into the 3rd round
Pliskova had lost to the exact same opponent, Danielle Rose Collins , in the Australian Open warmup tournament. But at the main event she had the last laugh as she won in straight sets 7-5 6-2. Her next opponent is Karolína Muchová.
Sofia Kenin falls by the wayside
It was disappointment galore for the 4th seed at this year’s Australian Open as she slumped to a straight sets defeat in her 2nd round encounter. Kaia Kanepi, who at 35 is a veteran on tour, won the match in straight sets 6-3 6-2 in just over an hour. Kanepi will face Donna Vekić in the next round.
Other Results :
- Donna Vekić beat Nadia Podoroska 6-2, 6-2
- Ekaterina Alexandrova beat Barbora Krejčíková 6-3, 7-6
- Yulia Putintseva beat Alison Van Uytvanck 6-4, 1-6, 6-2
- Karolína Muchová beat Mona Barthel 6-4, 6-1
- Jennifer Brady beat Madison Brengle 6-1 6-2
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