Sloane Stephens and Petra Kvitova progress, Caroline Garcia dumped out

Australian Open
Sloane Stephens fist pump

Sloane Stephens wasn’t at her best but managed to summon her resolve to move into the fourth round of the Australian Open, with Petra Kvitova also advancing.

Stephens was a break down in both sets of her match against Petra Martic before eventually coming through 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-5).

“It was a tough match, I thought [Martic] played some really good tennis,” Stephens told reporters.
“I played well as well. It was just really good, competitive tennis, obviously that’s what you play for.”

“I felt really good in the second set, I wasn’t getting tired — I was happy with that, because we had some really long rallies.

“Overall, it was just a really high-quality match, and it’s good to be on the good side of those matches.”

Petra Kvitova had a much more simple progression, besting Belinda Bencic 6-1 6-4.

The result means that she will go further in this tournament than she managed in any of the majors last season.

“I’m really enjoying it,” Kvitova said, during her post-match press conference.

“I’m happy to be here playing, of course being in the second week is something really special for me after a while.

I did not have that good beginning of the season for a very long time, so I’m really happy for that.”

18th seed Caroline Garcia is out though, losing 6-3 6-2 to American Danielle Collins.

More from Tennis365:

Caroline Garcia Petra Kvitova Sloane Stephens

Latest