Pliskova finishes strong against Brengle

Associated Press

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

Karolina Pliskova extended her winning start to the season by reaching the third round of the Australian Open after a rain-interrupted 4-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory Thursday over Madison Brengle.

The 2016 U.S. Open finalist started this year with a run to the title at the Brisbane International and entered the season’s first major seeded seventh, still with a chance to regain the top ranking depending on her performance at Melbourne Park.

After dropping serve twice in the first set against Brengle, Pliskova completely dominated the second and third sets and capped it with a pair of aces.

“Some breaks, some good tennis, and some bad mistakes from me too,” Pliskova said. “The first set wasn’t very good from my side, but she played some good points and was very solid.”

She’ll next play No. 27 Camila Giorgi, who beat Iga Swiatek 6-2, 6-0.

Madison Keys, the 2017 U.S. Open finalist, had a 6-3, 6-4 win over Anastasia Potapova to set up a third-round match against No. 12-seeded Elise Mertens, who beat Margarita Gasparyan 6-1, 7-5.

Keys has reached the semifinals in three of the last five majors and is gaining in confidence in Australia.

In other early matches, WTA Finals winner Elina Svitolina beat Viktoria Kuzmova 6-4, 6-1 in 67 minutes, No. 13 Anastasija Sevastova beat teenage Canadian qualifier Bianca Andreescu 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 and No. 21 Wang Qiang Wang had a 6-2, 6-3 win over Aleksandra Krunic.

Hsieh Su-wei advanced 6-3, 6-4 over Laura Siegemund, who had beaten two-time champion Victoria Azarenka in the first round.

Top-ranked Simona Halep was playing Sofia Kenin later Thursday, and seven-time Australian Open champion Serena Williams was set to meet Eugenie Bouchard in a night match.

Top-seeded Novak Djokovic, a six-time Australian titlist, was playing Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in a rematch of the 2008 final in the last match on Rod Laver Arena.

Australian Open RESULTS

MELBOURNE (AP) — Results Thursday from the Australian Open at Melbourne Park (seedings in parentheses):

Women’s Singles

Second Round

Camila Giorgi (27), Italy, def. Iga Swiatek, Poland, 6-2, 6-0.

Karolina Pliskova (7), Czech Republic, def. Madison Brengle, United States, 4-6, 6-1, 6-0.

Su-Wei Hsieh (28), Taiwan, def. Laura Siegemund, Germany, 6-3, 6-4.

Qiang Wang (21), China, def. Aleksandra Krunic, Serbia, 6-2, 6-3.

Anastasija Sevastova (13), Latvia, def. Bianca Vanessa Andreescu, Canada, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

Elise Mertens (12), Belgium, def. Margarita Gasparyan, Russia, 6-1, 7-5.

Madison Keys (17), United States, def. Anastasia Potapova, Russia, 6-3, 6-4.

Elina Svitolina (6), Ukraine, def. Viktoria Kuzmova, Slovakia, 6-4, 6-1.

Men’s Doubles

First Round

Oliver Marach, Austria and Mate Pavic (1), Croatia, def. Andreas Seppi, Italy and Simone Bolelli, Italy, 7-5, 6-7 (7), 6-0.

Bruno Soares, Brazil and Jamie Murray (3), Britain, def. Roman Jebavy, Czech Republic and Andres Molteni, Argentina, 6-4, 7-6 (11).

Ken Skupski, Britain and Neal Skupski, Britain, def. James Duckworth, Australia and Jordan Thompson, Australia, 6-3, 6-4.

Rajeev Ram, United States and Joe Salisbury (11), Britain, def. Hans Podlipnik, Chile and Guido Pella, Argentina, 6-0, 6-4.

Cameron Norrie, Britain and Taylor Fritz, United States, def. Mirza Basic, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Damir Dzumhur, Bosnia-Herzegovina, 7-6 (7), 7-5.

Jack Sock, United States and Jack Withrow, United States, def. Robert Farah, Colombia and Juan Sebastian Cabal (2), Colombia, 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-4.

Women’s Doubles

First Round

Sabrina Santamaria, United States and Veronika Kudermetova, Russia, def. Donna Vekic, Croatia and Belinda Bencic, Switzerland, 6-3, 6-1.

Barbora Strycova, Czech Republic and Marketa Vondrousova, Czech Republic, def. Yifan Xu, China and Gabriela Dabrowski (3), Canada, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

Alison Bai, Australia and Zoe Hives, Australia, def. Evgeniya Rodina, Russia and Luksika Kumkhum, Thailand, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Sorana Cirstea, Romania and Jelena Ostapenko, Latvia, def. Ying-Ying Duan, China and Vera Lapko, Belarus, 6-2, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (7).

Latisha Chan, Taiwan and Hao-Ching Chan (7), Taiwan, def. Arina Rodionova, Australia and Ellen Perez, Australia, 6-3, 7-5.

Aliaksandra Sasnovich, Belarus and Taylor Townsend, United States, def. Alison van Uytvanck, Belgium and Alexa Guarachi Mathison, Chile, 7-6 (3), 6-2.

Alison Riske, United States and Jennifer Brady, United States, def. Astra Sharma, Australia and Isabelle Wallace, Australia, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Katarina Srebotnik, Slovenia and Raquel Atawo (9), United States, def. Danielle Rose Collins, United States and Amanda Anisimova, United States, 6-1, 6-3.

Kristina Mladenovic, France and Timea Babos (2), Hungary, def. Galina Voskoboeva, Kazakhstan and Raluca-Ioana Olaru, Romania, 6-0, 6-3.