Pliskova bounced, Pegula advances at Australian

MELBOURNE, Australia — Sixth-seeded Karolina Pliskova was bounced from the Australian Open on Saturday, losing in straight sets to No. 25 Karolina Muchova, 7-5, 7-5.

Pliskova, the former world No. 1, blew a 5-0 lead in the second set before exiting.

Unseeded American Jessica Pegula, meanwhile, advanced to the fourth round at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time by beating Kristina Mladenovic 6-2, 6-1.

Pegula, who is ranked 61st, lost the first six points but then began to dominate with her versatile game. She hit 21 winners to just 13 unforced errors and won eight points at the net. The previous best showing at a Grand Slam by the 26-year-old native of Buffalo, New York, was a run to the third round at last year’s US Open.

Pegula will next play No. 5-seeded Elina Svitolina, who beat No. 26 Yulia Putintseva, 6-4, 6-0.

The atmosphere was different for the sixth day of play at the Open, with no fans to cheer due to the start of a five-day lockdown imposed by the Victoria state government in response to a COVID-19 outbreak at a hotel.

Up to 30,000 fans daily — 50% of capacity — had been admitted on previous days.

Svitolina, a tour veteran from Ukraine who has won 66 Grand Slam matches, needs one more win to match her best showing in Melbourne. She was a semifinalist at both Wimbledon and the US Open in 2019.

Top-seeded Ash Barty of Australia was to play a night match Saturday against No. 29 Ekaterina Alexandrova.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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