MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Highlights of the third day at the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, on Wednesday (times AEST; GMT+11):
Tennis – Australian Open – Second Round – Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia – January 22, 2020 Japan’s Naomi Osaka in action during the match against China’s Saisai Zheng REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach
1305 KVITOVA DOWNS BADOSA
Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova fired seven aces and 31 winners in a tight 7-5 7-5 victory over Spain’s Paula Badosa in their first career meeting.
1257 CATCHING BARTY IS NOT OSAKA’S IMMEDIATE PRIORITY
Defending champion Naomi Osaka said after her win over Zheng Saisai that she was not giving too much thought to reclaiming the world number one ranking, with top-ranked Ash Barty well in front of the Japanese third seed.
“Ash is like 2,000 points ahead of me and I have to defend this, I’m like yo, I’m going to drop out of the top 10 for real,” the 22-year-old said.
1246 OSAKA STAVES OFF ZHENG CHALLENGE
Defending champion Naomi Osaka fended off a strong comeback attempt from China’s Zheng Saisai, rallying from 4-2 down in the second set to prevail 6-2 6-4 and reach the third round.
1100 PLAY UNDERWAY
Play started on schedule on day three, with defending champion Naomi Osaka taking on China’s Zheng Saisai at Margaret Court Arena for a place in the third round on a warm, gusty morning at Melbourne Park.
The temperature is forecast to reach 32 degrees Celsius (90F) before a late cool change brings rain.
Compiled by Ian Ransom and Shrivathsa Sridhar; Editing by Peter Rutherford