Australian Open 2019 Day 3 Women's singles: Kerber, Wozniacki and Stephens advance; Donna Vekic loses
The Women’s Singles action on day three saw Angelique Kerber defeating Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia in straight sets. Third seed Caroline Wozniacki had it comfortable against Swede Johanna Larsson. Fifth seed Sloane Stephens entered the third round with a straight set victory over Timea Babos.
Court 3 Round two:
Wild card entrant Kimberly Birrell continued her dream run at the 2019 Australian Open after knocking out the 29th seed Donna Vekic into her third successive second-round defeat. Kimberly won 51 of her 72 points on the first serve and struck 73% of her first serves. She also converted five of her twelve break point opportunities and made eight scintillating backhand winners in the match.
Vekic lost her first serving game which enabled Birrell to take control of the first set to win 6-4. Vekic came back with a vengeance to race off to a 0-4 lead before the Australian fought back to level the game at 4-4 before eventually losing the second set 4-6. Kimberly was at her murderous best snatching a 5-0 lead to seal the match 6-1. She would meet World number two Angelique Kerber of Germany in the third round.
Kimberly Birrell (249) (AUS) defeats Donna Vekic (29) (CRO) 6-4, 4-6, 6-1
Margaret Court Arena Round two:
Pavlyuchenkova improved her head-to-head record against Kiki Bertens to 2-3 after getting the better of her in their last meeting at the 2018 Wuhan Open. Pavlyuchenkova‘s forehand fetched 19 of her 28 winners in total to leave Kiki Bertens gasping in awe. It was Berten‘s who held the upper hand by moving to a 0-3 lead in the first set.
Though Bertens lost her seventh service game, she held on to secure the ninth game and the first set 3-6. The Russian came back strongly breaking Berten‘s serve once in the second set and thrice in the third set to seal the match 6-3, 6-3. She will now face Aliaksandra Sasnovich from Belarus in the third round.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (42) (RUS) defeats Kiki Bertens (9) (NED) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
Court 8 Round two:
A seventeen-year-old teenager from America, Amanda Anisimova knocked out Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko to reserve a place in the third round in her debut Australian Open. She will not meet the eleventh seed Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus in the next round. Anisimova needed just under an hour to crush the Ukranian dispensing of 24 winners and converting six of her ten break point opportunities.
Anisimova won 63% of her points from the first serve and 53% from the second serve and dominated the first set to swoop it 6-0. She broke Tsurenko in the fourth and sixth game of the second set to lead 5-1. She suffered her only break in the seventh game, but squashed any signs of return by breaking Tsurenko‘s serve yet again to secure the match 6-2.
Amanda Anisimova (87) (USA) defeats Lesia Tsurenko (24) (UKR) 6-0, 6-2
Melbourne Arena Round two:
Aliaksandra Sasnovich tied her head-to-head record against Anett Kontaveit to 4-4 after defeating her in the second round of the 2019 Australian Open. Kontaveit had a dismal first serve percentage of 59% and won only five of her 22 points on her second serve proving a detrimental cause for her failure against Sasnovich.
She also converted just one of her ten break point opportunity to end a dismal day. Sasnovich dominated the net winning 80% of her points and converted four of her six break point attempts, including 29 winners. Sasnovich will meet Russia’s Pavlyuchenkova in the third round.
Aliaksandra Sasnovich (33) (BLR) defeats Anett Kontaveit (20) (EST) 6-3, 6-3
Court 20 Round two:
Bencic registered her maiden victory against Kazakh’s Yulia Putintseva after falling to her twice in their previous encounters. Bencic in the process registered the 100th win of her career and will face off against the eight seed Petra Kvitova from the Czech Republic. A see-saw battle in the first set ensued after both players traded breaks of service with each other before Bencic emerged on top to claim the first set 7-5.
The pattern continued in the second set with Putintseva racing off to a 0-4 lead before Bencic levelled it at 4-4. Putintseva broke Bencic‘s ninth service game to win the set 4-6. In the decider, Bencic lost her first service game to be 0-2 down before she won six games on the trot to close the match 6-2.
Belinda Bencic (55) (SUI) defeats Yulia Putintseva (44) (KAZ) 7-5, 4-6, 6-2