Second seed Karolina Pliskova loses to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in Round 3
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova has ended a six-match losing streak against second-seeded Karolina Pliskova with a 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3) win. The Rod Laver Arena match took 2 hours, 25 minutes to complete — the second game lasted 17 minutes and 53 seconds before Pliskova finally held serve after saving six break points and playing through 12 deuces.
The 30th-seeded Pavlyuchenkova, who had taken only one set in six previous matches against Pliskova, will play three-time major champion Angelique Kerber in the fourth round.
Earlier, three-time major champion Angelique Kerber has advanced to the fourth round at the Australian Open with a 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-3 win over Camila Giorgi to continue her career winning streak over the Italian player.
Kerber has beaten Giorgi all five times they've met, including three previous times Down Under at warm-up tournaments ahead of the Australian Open.
Kerber won the 2016 Australian Open for her first major, then followed that up with the U.S. Open later that year and Wimbledon in 2018.
Giorgi has never advanced past the third round of any major except Wimbledon.
