Russian Anna Kalinskaya had never won two consecutive matches in the main draw of a Grand Slam prior to this week. Now, she’s got three on the trot.
The world No 75 reached the last 16 of the Australian Open by edging out American Sloane Stephens in a seesaw contest, 6-7 (8), 6-1, 6-4, at Melbourne Park on Saturday.
Kalinskaya saved 12 of 13 break points, including two in the final game of the match, and clicked on 46 winners to lock down the milestone win. The 25-year-old will face the winner of the match between Russian Anna Blinkova and Italian Jasmine Paolini, the No 26 seed, next.
Stephens, bidding to reach the second week of a major for the 17th time, saved four set points to the opener in a tiebreak, but Kalinskaya dominated the second. Stephens broke for 3-1 in the third but was broken back immediately.
The Russian saved a pair of break points to hold for 4-4, then broke for 5-4, before coming through a tense final game to clinch her victory.
The Russian won against American qualifier Katie Volynets (6-3, 3-6, 6-2) and Dutchwoman Arantxa Rus (6-1, 7-5) in the previous rounds.
Earlier in the tournament, Stephens, ranked No 44, defeated Australian wildcard Olivia Gadecki (6-3, 6-1) and Russian Daria Kasatkina, the No 14 seed (4-6, 6-3, 6-3).
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Melbourne (Grand Slam), other third-round results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 58.910.000, most recent results first):
- Elina Svitolina vs. Viktorija Golubic
- Iga Swiatek vs. Linda Noskova
- Anna Blinkova vs. Jasmine Paolini
- Jelena Ostapenko vs. Victoria Azarenka
- Oceane Dodin vs. Clara Burel: saturday
- Qinwen Zheng vs. Yafan Wang: saturday
- Dayana Yastremska (Q) beat Emma Navarro (27): 6-2, 2-6, 6-1
- Barbora Krejcikova (9) beat Storm Hunter (Q): 4-6, 7-5, 6-3
- Maria Timofeeva (Q) beat Beatriz Haddad Maia (10): 7-6 (7), 6-3
- Magdalena Frech beat Anastasia Zakharova (Q): 4-6, 7-5, 6-4
- Coco Gauff (4) beat Alycia Parks: 6-0, 6-2
- Marta Kostyuk beat Elina Avanesyan: 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
- Mirra Andreeva beat Diane Parry: 1-6, 6-1, 7-6 (5)
- Aryna Sabalenka (2) beat Lesia Tsurenko (28): 6-0, 6-0
- Amanda Anisimova beat Paula Badosa: 7-5, 6-4