Australian Open: Two-time champ Azarenka books spot in last 16
Victoria Azarenka beat Madison Keys 1-6, 6-2, 6-1 on Friday and will face the winner of the match between Chinese Lin Zhu and Greek Maria Sakkari, the No 6 seed, in the next round
Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, the No 24 seed, advanced to the last 16 of the Australian Open by defeating American Madison Keys, the No 10 seed, 1-6, 6-2, 6-1 at Melbourne Park on Friday.
Azarenka, ranked No 24, will play the winner of the match between Chinese Lin Zhu and Greek Maria Sakkari, the No 6 seed, next.
The 33-year-old Belarusian won against American Sofia Kenin (6-4, 7-6 (3)) and Argentinian Nadia Podoroska (6-1, 6-0) ahead of her victory.
Earlier in the tournament, Keys, ranked No 13, beat Russian Anna Blinkova (6-4, 3-6, 6-2) and Chinese Xinyu Wang (6-3, 6-2).
Melbourne (Grand Slam), other third-round results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 24.297.942, most recent results first):
- Magda Linette vs. Ekaterina Alexandrova
- Laura Siegemund vs. Caroline Garcia
- Linda Fruhvirtova vs. Marketa Vondrousova
- Aryna Sabalenka vs. Elise Mertens
- Shuai Zhang vs. Katie Volynets
- Camila Giorgi vs. Belinda Bencic
- Nuria Parrizas Diaz vs. Donna Vekic
- Varvara Gracheva vs. Karolina Pliskova
- Lin Zhu vs. Maria Sakkari
- Iga Swiatek (1) beat Cristina Bucsa (Q): 6-0, 6-1
- Jelena Ostapenko (17) beat Kateryna Baindl: 6-3, 6-0
- Coco Gauff (7) beat Bernarda Pera: 6-3, 6-2
- Jessica Pegula (3) beat Marta Kostyuk: 6-0, 6-2
- Elena Rybakina (22) beat Danielle Collins (13): 6-2, 5-7, 6-2
- Barbora Krejcikova (20) beat Anhelina Kalinina: 6-2, 6-3