By David Packman
On a morning much cooler than the previous two, Melbourne Park seemed a more comfortable prospect – heat-wise at least – for the players scheduled early on Wednesday.
Ukrainian No.11 seed Elina Svitolina was quick to take advantage, bundling out American qualifier Julia Boserup 6-4 6-1 at Margaret Arena with little fanfare in just an hour and 17 minutes.
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Not to be outdone, in the exact same timeframe but dropping one less game, Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova – the 24th seed – removed another qualifier, countrywoman Natalia Vikhlyantseva, 6-2 6-2.
Fittingly, the pair will now meet in the third round. Chances are that one will extend beyond their shared mark of 77 minutes.
More from Day 3: Venus marches on
Early women’s match-ups saw China pitted against the United States with Ying-Ying Duan facing Varvara Lepchenko and Zhang Shaui opposing Alison Riske. In the end, both matches provided highlights with Duan winning an epic 10-8 in the third and Riske then balancing the ledger with an upset win over No.20 seed Zhang, the surprise packet last year after she won her first ever Grand Slam match (in her 15th attempt) on her way to the quarterfinals.
More from Day 3: Kerber pushed the distance
Jelena Jankovic, fared much better in defeating German Julia Goerges 6-3 6-4 at Hisense Arena and – after a layoff with illness and injury – the former world No.1 looks to be finding some touch.
“I was happy with the way I played today,” she said. “At the crucial moments, I was able to stay strong and really control the match.”
Dudi Sela packed out the stands with his vocal supporters as usual, but even the sight of the Israeli flags flying high in the afternoon sky couldn’t help the 31-year-old as he fell to Slovakian qualifier Lukas Lacko in four sets.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” Sela said of his fans in Melbourne. “Nobody else has it like this here. I want to say thank you to them. I wish I could have taken them with me into the third round.”
The upsets kept on coming with Romanian Sorana Cirstea bouncing out last year’s quarterfinalist Carla Suarez Navarro – the No.10 seed from Spain – and Kristyna Pliskova ousting No.27 seed Irina-Camelia Begu.
Latvian 32nd seed Anastasija Sevastova restored some order with a straightforward win over Slovak Kristina Kucova, while Belgian Steve Darcis was a four-set winner over Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman.
