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Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka navigated past one of the three 16-year-olds in the Australian Open draw, who played matches on the main show court on Wednesday, but Mirra Andreeva was the only one to book a spot in the 3rd-round, while Elina Avanesyan upset Maria Sakkari, the No 8 seed, in the late night match, Magdalena Frech toppled Caroline Garcia, both in straight sets, and Marta Kostyuk edged past Elise Mertens in three.
She’s incredible player for someone 16 years old. I mean, I think first six games was really great level, then I, kind of, step in and start playing little bit better. I’m not thinking about confidence. I’m just trying to play my best. If it goes to two sets, I’m happy to win it in two sets. If it’s going to be three sets, I don’t care. I just try to focus on myself and fight for every point. It’s not like these two matches give me confidence. It’s tennis. You have to be ready for anything. Aryna Sabalenka
Sabalenka, the 2nd seed, began the night session on Rod Laver Arena, and avoided the upset bug in the 2nd-round with an efficient 6-3 6-2 defeat of 16-year-old qualifier Brenda Fruhvirtova from the Czech Republic, taking 67 minutes to record her 9th straight victory at Melbourne Park.
No 107-ranked Fruhvirtova was one of the three 16-year-olds to have made it into Round 2, the most at any Grand Slam since the 2005 US Open, and, earlier on Wednesday, another of those, Mirra Andreeva, had delivered a shocking upset over 6th-seeded Ons Jabeur, 6-0 6-2.
The defending champion, though, navigated some tight early moments before taking control of her encounter with Fruhvirtova with a mid-match streak of 7 straight games.
While the young Czech went down an early break after a pair of nervy double-faults, she showed her promise when she found a smart, wrong-footing, backhand winner to break Sabalenka back, and level at 2-2.
That wing also garnered Fruhvirtova a pair of pin-point winners down the line in the closing stretch of the match.
In between, though, Sabalenka was rampant, thumping 30 winners, including 4 aces, outweighing her 22 unforced errors.
From 3-3 in the opening set, her powerful ball striking started to make the difference, as she rattled off the 7 successive games to take control.
After edging into a 4-3 lead with a hold of her own, Sabalenka started to find her range on her returns, and a couple of trademark big hits helped her break for 5-3.
Although she served out the set without too much fuss, it had at times been a tricky opening 38 minutes for the defending champion.
16-year old Brenda Fruhvirtova tested Aryna Sabalenka but lost in straight sets
© David Gray/AFP via Getty Images
With a set on the board now, and visibly more relaxed, Sabalenka immediately began playing with more freedom and aggression, a gear-change that produced a period of all-out-attack, which allowed her to impose herself early in the second set and she quickly built a 4-0 lead.
Quick to come forward whenever Fruhvirtova threw up a high defensive shot, Sabalenka won 10 out of 12 net points, and effectively moved the young Czech off court with sharp angles as well as her raw power.
Fruhvirtova stuck around with a couple of late holds of serve before the former World No 1 finished the job with 67 minutes on the clock.
“For someone who’s 16 years old she’s doing an incredible job,” she said in her on-court interview. “I wish I would be on this level when I was 16.
“She’s an unbelievable player and I’m pretty sure she’ll keep going, keep working and will be at the top very soon.”
Sabalenka will next face No 28 seed Lesia Tsurenko, after the Ukrainian defeated Spain’s Rebeka Masarova, 6-3 6-4, to reach the AO 3rd-round for the second time since her first in 2013.
Hoping to keep her title defence on track, Sabalenka has been reliable in her matches, in which the Belarusian has been the heavy favourite, having dropped just 6 games in her opening 2 rounds.
Asked if Andreeva’s earlier demolition job on Jabeur had been in her mind when she stepped onto court against an opponent of the same age, Sabalenka said she had tried to block that result out.
“I’m super happy with the win,” she said. “I just tried to focus on myself, not on anything else … just tried to not let this young lady go to the next round.”
Fruhvirtova, whose older sister Linda reached the AO 2023 4th-round as a 17-year-old and who is already in the Top 100, should feel encouraged by the way she competed against the World No 2.
Now coached by Nicolas Massu, who guided Dominic Thiem to the 2020 US Open title, the right-hander from Prague served well, and for long periods of the opening set looked comfortable trading from the back of the court with one of the biggest hitters in the game.
“She’s incredible player for someone 16 years old,” Sabalenka added later. “I mean, I think first six games was really great level, then I, kind of, step in and start playing little bit better.
“I’m not thinking about confidence. I’m just trying to play my best. If it goes to two sets, I’m happy to win it in two sets. If it’s going to be three sets, I don’t care. I just try to focus on myself and fight for every point. It’s not like these two matches give me confidence. It’s tennis. You have to be ready for anything.”
Elina Avanesyan barely put a foot wrong in upsetting 8th-seeded Maria Sakkari in the late match on Margaret Court Arena on Wednesday
© Martin Keep/AFP via Getty Images
Much later, 74th-ranked Elina Avanesyan from Russia closed out Wednesday’s play at nearly 1 am with a 6-4 6-4 upset of Sakkari in an hour and 43 minutes.
Avanesyan scored a nomination for Newcomer of the Year in last month’s Hologic WTA Tour Awards, having reached the last 16 of Roland Garros as a lucky loser.
The 21-year-old delivered a composed, intelligent performance to notch her first career Top 10 win over Sakkari, who now has fallen in the first week of her past 8 Majors.
Mixing up high defensive shots with sudden injections of pace and slice, Avanesyan kept the Greek World No 8 pinned far behind the baseline, and was largely able to play the match on her own terms.
Sakkari was unable to consistently read Avanesyan’s change-ups, or stay on the front foot herself, and committed 43 unforced errors in total.
Marta Kostyuk edged past Elise Mertens after saving a match point and will face Elina Avanesyan for a place in the 4th-round
© Phil Walter/Getty Images
Avanesyan will next face Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, who saved one match point to knock out Elise Mertens, the No 25 seed from Belgium, 5-7 6-1 7-6(6), in an enthralling contest.
Mertens had come into the match with a 22-1 record in Grand Slam 2nd-rounds, but was unable to convert her opportunity at 6-5 in the decider on Kostyuk’s serve.
The 2-hour, 53-minute tilt was the longest of Day 4, and featured an array of hot shots as both players pulled off miraculous gets, charged the net at every opportunity, and deployed all manner of creative shot-making.
No 37-ranked Kostyuk returns to the Australian Open 3rd-]round for a 3rd consecutive year.
Magdalena Frech upset Caroline Garcia to advance at Melbourne Park on Wednesday
© Morgan Hancock/Getty Images
Meanwhile, 26-year old Frech, who finished last year inside the Top 100 for the first time, stunned 16th-seeded Garcia, 6-4 7-6(2), for her first career Top 20 win.
Having hit a career high of 63 in November, the Pole went into her pre-season ready to make a commitment to herself.
“After the pre-season when I worked so hard, I told myself I want to just have fun on the court,” Frech said. “I don’t want to [put] pressure on me, and I don’t want to be scared on the court. I just wanted to play my game.”
She is making good on her promise, scoring a 3-set win over Sara Sorribes Tormo in Hobart before scoring back-to-back wins to make the 3rd-round of a Grand Slam for the second time in her 9-year career.
A round earlier, Frech came through a rollicking 3-set effort to defeat Australia’s Daria Saville, 6-7(5) 6-3 7-5, after 3 hours and 13 minutes, the longest women’s match of the tournament so far.
Frech credits the work she put in during the off-season to evolve into a more aggressive player.
“After the pre-season, when I start my season in Auckland, I tried to do this in the first match,” French said. “And it worked after 6-love in the first which I lost. It worked in the second and third set.
“I said, ‘That’s it, that’s the key’. I can win with other players, with top players like this. I don’t want to just be defender, like defend every point.”
Frech was under no illusions that she could match Garcia’s firepower, but she knew she had some tricks up her sleeve to unwind the former World No 4.
“It’s a different perspective from the TV and different on the court,” she said. “So I was prepared for bombs today. After two games I knew I have to be more aggressive and near the baseline because I was two meters behind.
“Caroline played so hard. She hits so hard the ball. I knew I had to play faster and take her time [away]. I think I did it well, and, mentally, I was on the court.”
Frech’s aggressive tactics paid off as she hit just 18 winners to Garcia’s 43, but her disciplined, purposeful hitting also forced 34 errors.
She dominated the shorter rallies, though, winning 85 of the 158 rallies (54%) that lasted fewer than 8 shots.
More aggressive play means shorter points and a lighter physical burden as well, a benefit Frech says she is already feeling.
“I think it was too much pressure on me,” Frech said. “I wanted [it] too much. I wanted to win too much. Before the match I was even scared sometimes. I didn’t want to win, you know? I was just thinking to play, but not to win.
“Now I’m ready to win, and I know this.”
Now she has a chance to make the second week of a major for the first time in her career, when she faces 190th-ranked qualifier Anastasia Zakharova on Friday, after the Russian easily dismissed Kaja Juvan from Slovenia, 6-1 6-1, in just 49 minutes.
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