Australian Open: Frech reaches fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time

Poland’s Magdalena Frech edged out Russian qualifier Anastasia Zakharova 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 to move into the last 16 of the Australian Open at Melbourne Park on Friday.

Frech, ranked No 69, is through to the last 16 at a Grand Slam for the first time in her career – her previous best showing was a third round finish in 2022. The Pole will play No 4 seed Coco Gauff next.

In the previous rounds, Frech edged out Australian wildcard Daria Saville (6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-5) and defeated Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia, the No 16 seed (6-4, 7-6 (2)).

Zakharova, ranked No 190, won against Kazakh Yulia Putintseva (2-6, 6-0, 6-3) and Slovenian Kaja Juvan (6-1, 6-1) earlier in the tournament.

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

• 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
• Coco Gauff beat Alycia Parks: 6-0, 6-2
• Marta Kostyuk beat Elina Avanesyan: 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
• 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