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Patna : Second seed Simona Halep, 29, Romania, 3rd seed Naomi Osaka, 23, Japan, 10th seed Serana Willaims, 39, USA, and 14th seed Garbine Muguruza, 27, Spain, reached the 3rd round of Australian Open AO 2021 winning their respective 2nd round matches at Melbourne Park, Australia, on February 10, 2021.
Simona Halep, the winner of two Grand Slam singles titles and AO finalist in 2018, beat Ajla Tomljanovic, 27, Australia, in three sets 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 in 2nd round rallying back from one set down. The Romanian won 8 break points during the match to 7 by Ajla. The Australian fired 6 Aces in the match to 5 by Halep, who had won French Open singles title in 2018 and Wimbledon singles title in 2019. But, Ajla committed 9 double faults to 5 by Simona. The Romanian won 5 games in a row in the match to 4 by Ajla.
Naomi Osaka, who had won AO singles title in 2019, beat Caroline Garcia, 27, France, in straight sets 6-2, 6-3 in second round winning 3 break points and 3 games in a row during the match. Osaka, who had won US Open singles title in 2018 and 2020, hammered 10 Aces in the match to 6 by Garcia.
Serena Williams, the winner of 23 Grand Slam singles title including 7 AO titles, beat Nina Stojanovic, 24, Serbia, 6-3, 6-0 in second round winning 4 break points and 7 games in a row in the match. She also fired 6 Aces in the match to just 1 by Nina. Serena had last won the AO title in 2017.
Garbine Muguruza, the 2020 AO finalist, crushed Ludmilla Samsonova, 22, Russia, 6-3, 6-1 in 2nd round winning 4 break points and 9 games in a row during the match. Ludmilla though fired 7 Aces in the match to just 1 by Muguruza, who had French Open singles title in 2016 and Wimbledon singles title in 2017.
But , Hsieh Su-wei, 35, Taiwan, upset 8th seed Bianca Andreescu, 20 Canada, who had won US Open singles title in 2019, defeating her in in straight sets 6-3, 6-2 in 2nd round. Hsieh won 6 break points to 2 by Bianca. She also won 4 games in a row in the match to 2 by the Canadian.
Hsieh will face Sara Errani,33, Italy, in 3rd round. Errani demolished Venus Williams, 40, USA, the winner of 7 Grand Slam singles titles and AO finalist in 2003 & 2017, in straight sets 6-1, 6-0 in 2nd round winning 6 break points and 8 games in a row during the match. Errani had reached French Open final and AO QFs in 2012.