Melbourne, Feb 11 (IANS) Estonia’s unseeded Kaia Kanepi sent defending champion and fourth seed Sofia Kenin of America packing in the women’s singles of the Australian Open on Thursday while 20-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal advanced to the third round.
Kenin crashed out after a 6-3, 6-2 defeat to Kanepi in the second-round. Women’s top seed Ashleigh Barty of Australia had to play out a tie-breaker in the second set to beat compatriot Daria Gavrilova 6-1, 7-6 (9). Ashleigh faces Russia’s Ekaterina Alexanderova in the third round.
Spain’s Nadal beat Malaysian qualifier Michael Mmoh 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 to ease into the third round, where he will face Britain’s Cameron Norrie. Greek fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas had to dig deep in a five-set thriller against Thanasi Kokkinakis. In a match that involved two tie-breakers, Tsitsipas eventually won 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-4. He faces Mikael Ymer of Sweden in the third round.
Russian fourth seed Daniil Medvedev will face Serbia’s Filip Krajinovic after a 6-2, 7-5, 6-1 win over Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena.
Czech sixth seed Karolina Pliskova beat American Danielle Collins 7-5, 6-2 and will face compatriot Karolina Muchova in the third round. Ukranian fifth seed Elina Svitolina beat American teenager Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-3 and will face Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva.
India’s Divij Sharan and Ankita Raina were both knocked out of the men’s and women’s doubles matches respectively.
Sharan and his Serbian partner Igor Zelenay lost 1-6, 4-6 to German pair Yannick Hanfman and Kevin Krawietz in the first round of men’s doubles. Ankita and Romania’s Mihaela Buzarnescu were brushed aside Australia’s Olivia Gadecki and Belinda Woolcock 6-3, 6-0.
–IANS
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