MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The Latest on the Australian Open (all times local):
4:30 p.m.
Seven-time champion Novak Djokovic avoided the same mistake he made three years go when he met a wild-card entry in the second round in Melbourne.
Djokovic beat Tatsuma Ito 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 in a swirling breeze on Rod Laver Arena to advance to a third-round match against another Japanese player, Yoshihito Nishioka, who is coming off a win over 30th-seeded Dan Evans.
In 2017, Djokovic was upset in the second round by Denis Istomin who, like Ito, had earned his spot in the main draw by winning the Asia-Pacific wild-card playoff. That was Djokovic’s worst performance in Australia since a first-round exit in 2006.
His experience at Melbourne Park counted as the wind picked up in the afternoon.
“Credit to (Ito) for fighting to the end. Tough conditions out here,” Djokovic said. ““The wind can get you out of your comfort zone very quickly.”
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3:40 p.m.
Coco Gauff has beaten Sorana Cirstea 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 to set up a third-round match against defending champion Naomi Osaka at the Australian Open.
The 15-year-old Gauff rallied after losing the first set and got the pivotal service break in the next-to-last game before serving out against 29-year-old Cirstea, who is playing at the Australian Open for a 12th time.
Gauff started the tournament with her second first-round win over Venus Williams in three majors, following her upset over the seven-time Grand Slam champion at last year’s Wimbledon.
Osaka had to overcame swirling winds on Margaret Court Arena to beat Zheng Saisai 6-2, 6-4 in one of the first matches on Day 3.
Gauff reached the fourth round on her Wimbledon debut and the third round at the U.S. Open.
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3 p.m.
Caroline Wozniacki has continued her farewell tournament by overcoming a 5-1 first-set deficit and beating Dayana Yastremska 7-5, 7-5 on her sixth match point in the second round.
Wozniacki has said she plans to retire after this Australian Open. The 2018 champion had three match points in the 10th game of the second set but Yastremska held in a game after she’d taken a medical timeout to treat her left leg.
Wozniacki eventually clinched it two games later with a service break, and wiped tears from her eyes.
Former No. 1-ranked Wozniacki will next play Ons Jabeur, who beat Caroline Garcia 1-6, 6-2, 6-3.
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2:50 p.m.
Coco Gauff has sent her second-round match with Sorana Cirstea to a third set at the Australian Open. After Cirstea won the first set 6-4, the 15-year-old Gauff took the second set 6-3. The winner will play defending champion Naomi Osaka in the third round.
Earlier, Elise Martin beat Danka Kovinic 6-2, 6-0 to complete the last of the eight first-round women’s singles matches played on Day 3. They were carried over because of heavy rainfall on Monday that caused a backlog.
Several of those hadn’t been completed before some other players, including Naomi Osaka and Petra Kvitova, had advanced to the third round.
The eight matches were all in the bottom half of the women’s draw.
Among the first-round winners were Carla Suarez Navarro, Heather Watson’ and Taylor Townsend. No. 28 Anett Kontaveit and No. 30 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova also advanced from the first round.
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2:20 p.m.
Top-ranked Ash Barty has advanced to the third round at Melbourne Park with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Polona Hercog.
Home favorite Barty shook off a habit of losing the first set in recent matches to dominate early and set up a straight sets win.
In the second set, she saved three break points in the eighth game and broke Hercog in the next. Serving for the match, Barty still had to save two break points, one with an ace and the other with a service winner. She had another service winner on match point.
“I was glad I was able to save a few break points there in the second set,” Barty said. “The wind was a huge factor.”
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1:25 p.m.
Sixth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas got a walkover into the third round at Melbourne Park when his Philipp Kohlschreiber pulled out of their scheduled match because a muscle strain.
Tsitsipas will face either Milos Raonic or Cristian Garin in the third round. Tsitsipas has become a local favorite due to Melbourne’s large Greek population.
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12:55 p.m.
Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova saved three set points in the second set before beating Paula Badosa 7-5, 7-5 to advance to the third round.
Kvitova rallied from 0-40 down in the 10th game of the second set to hold serve and then broke in the next game to regain control of the match.
Kvitova lost last year’s final here to Naomi Osaka, who also advanced Wednesday to the third round. French Open champion and local hope Ash Barty was next up on Rod Laver Arena.
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12:40 p.m.
Defending champion Naomi Osaka overcame swirling winds on Margaret Court Arena to beat Zheng Saisai 6-2, 6-4 and advance to the third round.
Osaka became upset with herself at times. After having her service broken in the second set Osaka threw her racket to the ground, tossed a ball from her hand and kicked the racket along the court. She then sat in her court-side chair with a towel over her head. But she rallied back and clinched the match when Zheng double-faulted on match point.
Third-seeded Osaka said the best part about winning over Zheng was how she was able to deal with all the emotions.
“I hope you guys like the tennis that’s coming after my match,” third-seeded Osaka said, “because it wasn’t that pretty.”
Because of suspended matches from rain on Monday, eight first-round women’s singles matches were not completed Tuesday. That meant Osaka had advanced to the third round before some of those players had finished their first.
In other second-round matches, No. 14 Sofia Kenin beat qualifier Ann Li 6-1, 6-3. Anett Kontaveit beat wild-card entry Astra Sharma 6-0, 6-2 in a first-round match.
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11:10 a.m.
Play is underway on Day 3 at the Australian Open with defending champion Naomi Osaka playing Zheng Saisai in the opening match at Margaret Court Arena.
Later at Rod Laver Arena it’ll be a cavalcade of Grand Slam singles winners. Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova is playing the first match there against Paula Badosa, followed by French Open champion and local hope Ash Barty’s second-round match against Polona Hercog.
Closing out the action at Rod Laver will be players with a total of 59 Grand Slam singles championships: Novak Djokovic with 16 concluding the day program and Serena Williams (23) and Roger Federer (20) playing at night.
Temperatures were expected to reach 32 degrees Celsius (90 Fahrenheit) during the day with the possibility of evening showers.
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