Second seed Pliskova crashes out of Australian Open in third round

Second seed Karolina Pliskova on Saturday became the latest top contender to crash out of the Australian Open in the third round after being defeated 7-6 (4-7) 7-6 (3-7) by 30th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia.

Czech player Pliskova joined the likes of defending champion Naomi Osaka and 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams in her first-week exit from the Open, Deutsche press agency (dpa) reporetd.
Sixth seed Belinda Bencic was also stunned out of the major, only managing to hold on to one service game - narrowly avoiding a so-called double bagel - against Estonia's Annett Kontaveit in a 6-0, 6-1 rout that lasted just 48 minutes.

Croatia's Donna Vekic, seeded 19th, also fell to Poland's Iga Swiatek 7-5, 6-3 at 1573 Arena.
Former champion Rafael Nadal meanwhile sailed smoothly into Melbourne's fourth round for the 16th time in his career, beating fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 in hot conditions at Rod Laver Arena.

In other action, 2018 Melbourne finalist Simona Halep cruised past Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva 6-1, 6-4 while men's tenth seed Gael Monfils dispatched Latvian qualifier Ernests Gulbis 7-6 (7-2), 6-4, 6-3.

Earlier at Margaret Court Arena, former champion Angelique Kerber made it through to the round of 16 of the Australian Open for the seventh time in her career with a 6-2, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3 win over Italy's Camila Giorgi.

World number two Pliskova kicked things off at Rod Laver Arena with a marathon first service game, when she faced six break points and eventually held after a 17-minute-and-53-second battle.
Pliskova was then broken in her following service game, managing to even things out and forcing a tiebreaker which was eventually taken by her Russian opponent.

The second set proceeded in similar fashion, with an exchange of breaks and Pavlyuchenkova powering her way through in two hours and 25 minutes.
Pliskova, who last year reached the semis in Melbourne in her best result at a slam yet, was on a hot streak having won all six matches she played so far this year. She also had only ever dropped a set against Pavlyuchenkova, having won all of their previous six match-ups.

"I think she was playing very well today. Maybe the best ... she played against me so far in the last couple matches," Pliskova said after the defeat.
"I think especially [in] the important moments she always served well so I had couple chances here and there ... But I think she just played better than me."

Former world number one Kerber, who won the Melbourne slam in 2016, took the first set in under 30 minutes helped by 20 unforced errors by the hard-hitting Giorgi - including eight double faults.
Giorgi made things trickier for Kerber in the second, bringing unforced errors down to 23 and winners up to 26, eventually taking the set in the tiebreaker.

The ever-consistent left-handed player eventually took it home in the third after over two hours of grinding.
The 32-year-old German, who is dealing with a hamstring injury which forced her to retire in Adelaide earlier this month, kept her perfect record against Italian Giorgi, beating her for the fifth time in as many encounters.

Since winning Wimbledon in 2018, Kerber has been struggling to get into the second week of slams, her best effort being a fourth round exit in Melbourne last year.