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Patna : World No 44 in WTA rankings Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 27, Russia, beat World No 5 and 2017 US Open Champion Sloane Stephens, 25, USA, in a tough three-set contest 6-7, 6-3, 6-3 in the 4th round of Australian Open at Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia, to enter the quarter-finals of the tournament for the second time in her career. Pavlyuchenkova had also reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open in 2017.
Pavlyuchenkova won 7 break points in the match to 4 by Stephens. Both the players won 3 games each in a row in the match. Stephens committed 3 double faults to none by Pavlyuchenkova. Stephens served 2 Aces to one by Pavlyuchenkova. Pavlyuchenkova’s winning percentage on both her first and second serve was better than that of Stephens, who had reached semi-finals of Australian Open in 2013 and final of French Open in 2018.
Pavlyuchenkova will face World No 35 Danielle Rose Collins, USA, in the quarter-finals on January 22, 2019. Collins had upset World No 2 Angelique Kerber in the 4th round earlier on the day.