MELBOURNE, Australia — Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff, two of the top three seeds in the Australian Open, both reached the third round Wednesday.
Top-seeded Sabalenka defeated a tenacious Bai Zhouxuan of China 6-3, 6-1 at Rod Laver Arena, and No. 3 Gauff won over left-hander Olga Danilovic 6-2, 6-2 at Margaret Court Arena.
Sabalenka won the Australian Open in 2023 and 2024 and was the runner-up a year ago against Madison Keys. She is after her fifth Grand Slam title and has two trophies at the US Open.
Gauff, who has never advanced past the semifinals in Australia, has Grand Slam titles from the French Open and US Open.
Sabalenka raced to a 5-0 lead in the first but then needed seven set points to take the set against the defensive-minded Bai, who used clever drop shots to help her stay in the match.
Sabalenka will next face Anastasia Potapova, who defeated 28th-seeded and former US Open champion Emma Raducanu 7-6 (3), 6-2.
“I was happy to get this win, a tricky opponent,” Sabalenka said of China’s Bai. “She really stepped in in the first set.”
Sabalenka led 4-0 in the second set and overpowered the smaller Bai. Sabalenka even tried a bit of serve-and-volley in the match, trying to diversify her game.
“You saw serve-and-volley today,” Sabalenka said. “It didn’t really work well, but I did one.”
Bai was making her second appearance in the Australian Open and reached the second round for the first time.
In another women’s match, 12th-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine defeated Linda Klimovicova of Poland 7-5, 6-1. Gael Monfils, a popular 39-year-old Frenchman and Svitolina’s husband, said goodbye at Melbourne Park in his retirement year, losing on Tuesday in a first-round match to qualifier Dane Sweeny.
In another women’s match, Zeynep Sönmez of Turkey, who was highly praised during her first-round match Sunday for assisting an ill ballkid, advanced to the third round after beating Anna Bondar 6-2, 6-4.
Sönmez played at one of Melbourne Park’s outside courts and the stands were crammed with members of Melbourne’s Turkish community.
“I really appreciated there were many Turkish people, and I felt like I was at home,” she said. “At first I couldn’t even hear my own thoughts. It was very, very loud.”
