Second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka has moved into the fourth round at the Australian Open with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 win over No. 31 Marketa Vondrousova.
The match started ominously for Sabalenka when she had two double-faults and was broken in the first game.
But unlike her second-round match, when she had nine double-faults in her first two service games and 19 in the match, Sabalenka reduced that glaring match statistic to 10.
“I’m really happy right now — mostly I’m happy I made only 10 double-faults,” Sabalenka said, laughing, in her on-court TV interview.
Sabalenka had an important service hold in the fourth game of the third set, a game that lasted about eight minutes, and then stayed in control for the rest of the match.
A two-time major semifinalist, Sabalenka conceded she'd “had some trouble” recently with her serve, but added: “I’ll just keeping working on the serve and hope it gets better with every match.”
She'll next play No. 115-ranked Kaia Kanepi, who beat Australian wild-card entry Maddison Inglis 2-6, 6-2, 6-0. Kanepi has reached the quarterfinals six times at Grand Slam events, but never has reached the last eight at the Australian Open.