Australian Open: Elina Svitolina and Naomi Osaka work hard to score wins
The 4th seed Naomi Osaka is through to the fourth round in Melbourne for the second year in a row after a 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 win over the 28th seed Su-Wei Hsieh in just under two hours. The Japanese made the difference with her second serve but she still had to play against 15 break points, nine in the opening set when she struggled to find the rhythm. Hsieh did break her four times although it wasn't enough in the end despite a 7,5 4-1 lead, with Naomi taking control from the middle of the second set to grab seven breaks from 11 opportunities and bring the match home in style. The Japanese had 41 winners and 42 unforced errors, leaving Hsieh on 28-31 ratio and taking the upper hand in the second part of the match.
Su-Wei led 4-2 in the opener, only to lose the next three games and let Naomi 5-4 up, serving for the set in game 10. Out of sudden, she suffered back-to-back breaks and Hsieh stole the set 7-5, moving closer to a huge surprise. Carried by this momentum, Su-Wei forged a 4-1 advantage in set number two before Naomi started to hit like she wanted, finding the right range and winning five straight games to take the set 6-4 and steal the impulse before the decider. There, she broke three times to march towards the finish line, mighty relieved after such a scary result in the first set and a half.
Just like Osaka, the 6th seed Elina Svitolina also had to dig deep to enter the last 16, beating Shuai Zhang 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 in two hours and 55 minutes! There were 26 break points up for grabs in this grueling contest and the Ukrainian scored six breaks in comparison to five for Zhang, scoring a late one at 5-4 in set number two before a complete roller coaster in the decider. Trailing 3-0, Elina fought back to win five straight games, only to lose serve at 5-4 while serving for the match, adding more fuel to already very dramatic encounter. In the end, Svitolina managed to avoid the match tie break, sealing the deal with the crucial break in game 12 that pushed her over the top.
Zhang was the more aggressive player all the time and Svitolina will have to find an extra gear if she wants to fight for the title, especially after three hours spent on the court during the day session. The 13th seed Anastasija Sevastova needed 76 minutes to dismiss the 21st seed Qiang Wang 6-3, 6-3, reaching the fourth round at Melbourne Park for the first time in eight years! Sevastova lost serve once but that was never a problem after a dominant display on the return, taking almost half of the points in Wang's games and breaking her four times from 12 opportunities to seal the deal and march on. Madison Keys had a great day at the office, taking down the 12th seed Elise Mertens 6-3, 6-2 in 73 minutes after 31 winners and 21 unforced errors she hit, losing serve just once and scoring four breaks on the other side to enter the fourth round for the fourth time in five years.
Third round results:
[6]Elina Svitolina (UKR) vs Shuai Zhang (CHN) 4-6 6-4 7-5 [4]Naomi Osaka (JPN) vs Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE) 5-7 6-4 6-1 [13]Anastasija Sevastova (LAT) vs [21]Qiang Wang (CHN) 6-3 6-3 [17]Madison Keys (USA) vs [12]Elise Mertens (BEL) 6-3 6-2
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2RZlsIk
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