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Sabalenka rebounds from tough start, advances to 4th round

PAUL CROCK / AFP / Getty

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.

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