Australian Open: Kalinskaya cruises past Paolini to reach first major quarter-final

Anna Kalinskaya sprinted into her first Grand Slam quarter-final by beating Jasmine Paolini 6-4, 6-2 in round four of the Australian Open on Monday evening in Melbourne. In a matchup between two players who had previously never been to the last 16 at a major, Kalinskaya cruised in a mere one hour and 16 minutes.

The 25-year-old Russian struck seven more winners than unforced errors (20 to 13) and benefited from an uncharacteristic performance by Paolini, who struggled in the biggest match of her career. Seeded 26th, Paolini committed a whopping 33 errors — almost twice as many as her winner count (17).

Paolini struggled on serve the entire way. The Italian broke back for 2-2 in the first set but was broken again for 2-3; that’s when things really started to go downhill. Paolini also dropped serve at 2-2 in the second, after which she did not win another game.

Leading 4-2, Kalinskaya broke to love for 5-2 and then served out the match with ease.

Kalinskaya, ranked No 75, awaits either No 12 seed Qinwen Zheng or unseeded Oceane Dodin in the last eight. She preceded Monday’s victory with wins over American qualifier Katie Volynets (6-3, 3-6, 6-2), Dutchwoman Arantxa Rus (6-1, 7-5) and American Sloane Stephens (6-7 (8), 6-1, 6-4).

The best major of Paolini’s career included defeats of Russian Diana Shnaider (6-3, 6-4), German Tatjana Maria (6-2, 6-3) and Russian Anna Blinkova (7-6 (1), 6-4).

Melbourne (Grand Slam), other last 16 results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 58.910.000, most recent results first):

• Qinwen Zheng vs. Oceane Dodin
• Linda Noskova beat Elina Svitolina (19): 3-0 ret.
• Dayana Yastremska (Q) beat Victoria Azarenka (18): 7-6 (6), 6-4
• Barbora Krejcikova (9) beat Mirra Andreeva: 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
• Marta Kostyuk beat Maria Timofeeva (Q): 6-2, 6-1
• Aryna Sabalenka (2) beat Amanda Anisimova: 6-3, 6-2
• Coco Gauff (4) beat Magdalena Frech: 6-1, 6-2

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