America the Beautiful
Last night at the Australian Open eight Americans won their matches to move on to the third round. Most notably, two unseeded American women upset seeded Australian players. CoCo Vandeweghe defeated 20th seed Samantha Stosur 6-4, 6-4 and Madison Keys prevailed against 29th seed Casey Dellacqua 2-6, 6-1, 6-1. Talk about a comeback! Meanwhile, Vavaro Lepchenko, the 30th seed in the women’s draw, defeated Australian resident Ajla Tomljanovic 6-1, 7-6(1). In addition, two Americans played their compatriots last night — Venus Williams defeated Lauren Davis 6-2, 6-3 and Madison Brengle secured a win over Irina Falconi 6-1, 6-3. In the men’s draw, Steve Johnson upset 30th seed Santiago Giraldo in straight sets, coming away with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory. Top-ranked American male, John Isner, beat Andreas Haider Maurer 6-4, 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-4 and after a slow start, our no. 1, Serena Williams, earned a 7-5, 6-0 victory over Vera Zvonareva. Unfortunately, Americans Donald Young, Nicole Gibbs and Anna Tatishvili were knocked out of the tournament last night.
Guess Who’s Back? Back Again
Former Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka hardly gave eighth seed Caroline Wozniacki a chance in their second-round match, winning 6-4, 6-2. Azarenka controlled the court by winning 51 percent of receiving points and also hit 31 winners to Wozniacki’s 18. In round three Azarenka will face 25th seed Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, who has played Wozniacki twice this year. In their first meeting, Strycova lost in three sets and in their second was up a set before Wozniacki retired. Strycova will be tough competition for Azarenka, but if the Belrusian plays like she did last night, she has a shot at a third title.
Want more Australian Open coverage? Keep checking the MTL Blog for all the news that’s fit to print about Melbourne 2015.
