Australian Open 2022: Victoria Azarenka stuns Elina Svitolina to enter fourth round

The 24th-seeded Victoria Azarenka won the title at Melbourne Park in 2012 and 2013, and she also has been the runner-up at the US Open three times.

No. 24 seed Victoria Azarenka exults after her win over No. 15 seed Elina Svitolina in the Australian Open 2022 third round. (Source: Twitter)

Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka is into the fourth round for the first time since 2016 after overpowering 15th-seeded Elina Svitolina 6-0, 6-2. Azarenka accumulated nearly twice as many winners, 17, as unforced errors, nine, and never faced a break point. Svitolina made mistake after mistake, 26 unforced errors in all.

Azarenka improved to 5-0 against Svitolina. The 24th-seeded Azarenka won the title at Melbourne Park in 2012 and 2013, and she also has been the runner-up at the US Open three times, most recently in 2020. She next will play No. 4 Barbora Krejcikova, who has won the French Open.

Reporter: "Leo, how did mummy play today?"

Leo: @vika7 * #AusOpen * #AO2022 * #AOpresscon pic.twitter.com/o1KRswMLio

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 21, 2022

Since a quarterfinal run in Australia in 2016, Azarenka lost first-round matches last year and in 2019, and missed the hard-court tournament in 2017, 2018 and 2020.

Barbora Krejcikova fights back

French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova fought back from going a set behind to hand Jelena Ostapenko a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 defeat and advance to the fourth round of the Australian Open on Friday. The Czech, seeded number four, clawed her way back from a set and a break down midway through the second set to see off the 2017 French Open winner.

“Today’s match was really tough, really difficult. I had to really dig deep to get this win,” said Krejcikova. “I’m really pleased about it and also proud of myself. I’m never going to leave without a fight and I’m really happy that I’m able to show that on the court.”

Ostapenko won the opening set thanks to a pair of service breaks and Krejcikova looked to be exiting the tournament when her Latvian opponent opened up a 3-1 lead in the second set. However, two breaks of serve saw Krejcikova level the match.

Krejcikova was then given a time violation for returning late to court ahead of the start of the decider, claiming she was delayed due to a broken necklace. She settled herself to break Ostapenko’s serve in the first game of the final set, holding on to win and set up a fourth round meeting with Victoria Azarenka.

Paula Badosa triumphs in baseline shootout with Marta Kostyuk

Paula Badosa fended off a Marta Kostyuk comeback in an engrossing baseline battle to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open for the first time with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 victory on Friday. The in-form world number six looked to be cruising at a set and break up on Margaret Court Arena when her talented 19-year-old Ukrainian opponent found her range and clawed her way back into the contest.

The pair traded ferocious stroke for ferocious stroke from the back of the court but Kostyuk's accuracy betrayed her at key moments in the third set and Badosa finally got the job on her fifth match point after more than two hours on court. The Spanish eighth seed, riding the momentum from a title triumph in Sydney last week, will next face the powerful American Madison Keys or China’s Wang Qiang for a place in her second Grand Slam quarter-final.

(with agency inputs)