Australian Open: Kostyuk through to fourth round in Melbourne for the first time

Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk advanced to the last 16 of the Australian Open for the first time in her career by edging out Russian Elina Avanesyan in three sets.

The 21-year-old, playing in the main draw in Melbourne for the fifth time in her career, won 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 on Friday to advance to the fourth round at a Grand Slam for the second time (the first one coming at the 2021 French Open).

Kostyuk, ranked No 37 in the world, will play the winner of the match between Russian qualifier Maria Timofeeva and Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia, the No 10 seed, next.

In the previous rounds, the Ukrainian won against American Claire Liu (6-3, 4-6, 6-1) and edged out Belgian Elise Mertens, the No 25 seed (5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (6)).

Avanesyan, ranked No 74, defeated Chinese Zhuoxuan Bai (4-6, 7-5, 6-2) and Greek Maria Sakkari, the No 8 seed (6-4, 6-4) earlier in the tournament.

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Melbourne (Grand Slam), other third-round matches (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 58,910,000):

• Coco Gauff (4) beat Alycia Parks: 6-0, 6-2
• Mirra Andreeva beat Diane Parry: 1-6, 6-1, 7-6 (5)
• Aryna Sabalenka (2) beat Lesia Tsurenko (28): 6-0, 6-0
• Amanda Anisimova beat Paula Badosa: 7-5, 6-4
• Elina Svitolina vs. Viktorija Golubic
• Iga Swiatek vs. Linda Noskova
• Jelena Ostapenko vs. Victoria Azarenka
• Oceane Dodin vs. Clara Burel
• Anna Blinkova vs. Jasmine Paolini
• Qinwen Zheng vs. Yafan Wang
• Anna Kalinskaya vs. Sloane Stephens
• Emma Navarro vs. Dayana Yastremska
• Storm Hunter vs. Barbora Krejcikova
• Maria Timofeeva vs. Beatriz Haddad Maia
• Magdalena Frech vs. Anastasia Zakharova