Australian Open: Ukrainian qualifier Yastremska advances to last 16

Ukrainian qualifier Dayana Yastremska moved into the last 16 of the Australian Open by defeating American Emma Navarro, the No 27 seed, 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 at Melbourne Park on Saturday night.

Yastremska played a dominant third set, cracking 15 winners to just one for the American as she raced to victory.

“In general it was a nice game,” said Yastremska, who was dealing with a neck issue during the middle of the match, adding: “Of course I could play much more better.”

Ukrainian is the second qualifier to reach the round of 16, she joins 20-year-old Russian Maria Timofeeva in the second week.

The 23-year-old Odessa native moves into the round of 16 at a major for the first time since 2019 Wimbledon – since the start of 2020, in ten previous Grand Slam appearances, she had never been past the second round.

Yastremska, ranked No 93, will play the winner of the match between Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, the No 11 seed, and Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, the No 18 seed, next.

The Ukrainian won against No 7 seed Marketa Vondrousova (6-1, 6-2) and Frenchwoman Varvara Gracheva (6-3, 6-2) in the previous rounds.

Earlier in the tournament, Navarro, ranked No 26, edged out Chinese Xiyu Wang (6-1, 6-7 (5), 7-5) and beat Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto (4-6, 6-3, 6-3).

Melbourne (Grand Slam), other third-round results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 58.910.000, most recent results first):

• Elina Svitolina vs. Viktorija Golubic
• Iga Swiatek vs. Linda Noskova
• Jelena Ostapenko vs. Victoria Azarenka
• Anna Blinkova vs. Jasmine Paolini
• Oceane Dodin vs. Clara Burel
• Qinwen Zheng vs. Yafan Wang: saturday
• Anna Kalinskaya vs. Sloane Stephens: saturday
• Barbora Krejcikova (9) beat Storm Hunter (Q): 4-6, 7-5, 6-3
• Maria Timofeeva (Q) beat Beatriz Haddad Maia (10): 7-6 (7), 6-3
• Magdalena Frech beat Anastasia Zakharova (Q): 4-6, 7-5, 6-4
• Coco Gauff (4) 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