Vekic remains unbeaten in 2023 to reach fourth round at Australian Open
Donna Vekic won against Nuria Parrizas Diaz 6-2, 6-2 to improve to 6-0 for the season
Croatian Donna Vekic advanced to the last 16 of the Australian Open by defeating Spaniard Nuria Parrizas Diaz in straight sets at Melbourne Park on Saturday .
Vekic, ranked No 64 in the world, won 6-2, 6-2 in one hour and four minutes to equal her best ever performance at the first Grand Slam of the season. She also reached the fourth round at the Australian Open in 2021.
“I’m really happy with my performance” – Vekic
“It was a great match,” Vekic said after the win. “Actually, the last two matches I’ve been playing really well, playing better each match. So I’m really happy with my performance and the way I’m playing, so hopefully, I can continue that way.”
Vekic will face the winner of the match between Linda Fruhvirtova and Marketa Vondrousova for a place in the quarter-finals.
The Croat remained unbeaten in 2023 – extending her winning streak to six matches. She also won all her three matches at the United Cup earlier this month and edged out Russian qualifier Oksana Selekhmeteva (6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (7)) and Russian Liudmila Samsonova, the No 18 seed (6-3, 6-0) earlier this week.
Australian Open (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
- Varvara Gracheva vs. Karolina Pliskova
- Lin Zhu beat Maria Sakkari (6): 7-6 (3), 1-6, 6-4
- Victoria Azarenka (24) beat Madison Keys (10): 1-6, 6-2, 6-1
- 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