Australian Open: Barbora Krejcikova to face Jessica Pegula in last 16 after both players win in straight sets
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Updated 20/01/2023 at 05:23 GMT
Barbora Krejcikova will be looking to improve on her impressive quarter-final run at the 2022 edition of the Australian Open this year and has got her singles campaign off to a strong start. Her straight sets win over Anhelina Kalinina means she has safely progressed to the fourth round of the Australian Open. She will play Jessica Pegula who easily beat Marta Kostyuk in straight sets.
Highlights: Krejcikova into last 16 after win over Kalinina
Barbora Krejcikova is safely through to the last 16 of the Australian Open for the second year in a row after a convincing 6-2 6-3 win over Anhelina Kalinina.
The Czech player, who won the French Open singles title in 2021, has extended her win record in the third round of Grand Slams to 6-1 after a comfortable with over the world No. 39 on Rod Laver Arena.
The 27-year-old will play world No. 3 Jessica Pegula in the fourth round.
"The first three games I thought were really close," Krejcikova said in her on-court interview after the match.
"I was happy that I put all of them under my belt. From there on I was just going for my shots and trying to stay aggressive and just work on try to play good returns, good serves and started to release really well.
"I think I was able to do that. I think I played really solid today.
"I love to play on a big court, playing on centre court and big arenas I can always get a little bit more out of me.
"I'm really enjoying it and I would like to get to the stage where I can play first rounds on courts like this. That's a big goal."
Krejcikova broke in the first game with Kalinina double faulting to hand her the advantage. Another double fault from Kalinina followed by a wide backhand sent Krejcikova into a commanding 3-0 lead.
Kalinina’s unforced errors on her own serve kept mounting, but it was a vicious forehand winner down the line which moved Krejcikova to within a game of the first set.
Kalinina rescued three set points to claw a break back, but Krejcikova sealed the opening set on her fifth set point in her next service game.
Krejcikova saved a break point to make it 2-2 at the start of the second set before she got the vital break to make it 3-2 after another wide backhand from Kalinina.
Kalinina seemed to be put off by a new set of balls when she was serving to stay in the match and Krejcikova capitalised with a backhand down the line to seal her progression.
PEGULA EASES HER WAY INTO LAST 16
Pegula made easy work of her third round match against error-prone Marta Kostyuk, winning 6-0 6-2 in 65 minutes on Margaret Court Arena to set up an exciting match with Krejcikova.
"I didn't give away a lot of free points," Pegula said afterwards.
"I was playing aggressive. I definitely learned a lot from when I last played her to a better strategy going into the match so that worked really well.
"I think I wasn't serving great today but I thought I served smart enough to get through some tough games.
On playing Krejcikova next, Pegula said: "I've watched her quite a bit. She's had a great couple of years. I know last year she was a little bit hurt. It seems like she's kind of finding her confidence again.
"I actually don't think I've ever played her in singles, just in doubles. I have a little bit of an idea but I'll definitely have to maybe watch more of her matches, but also just happy to be through to the fourth round and just excited for the next match."
Kostyuk was really struggling with her serve, recording five double faults, and Pegula took full advantage as she pulled her Ukrainian opponent around the court to win the first set in just 31 minutes.
An out-of-sorts Kostyuk held to love in her opening service game of the second set, but that was moments before a backhand into the trams saw two-time Australian quarter-finalist Pegula go into a 2-1 lead.
A poor backhand slice into the net from Kostyuk sealed a double break for Pegula. Kostyuk did pull one break back, but Pegula held her remaining service games to extend her win streak to seven matches in all competitions this year.
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