Bencic, Vekic through to the 3rd round, Muguruza survives scare

Day 4 of the 2020 Australian Open kicked off with some intriguing matchups, as 6th seed Belinda Bencic faced off against 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko.

The top-ranked Swiss needed an hour and 41 minutes to see off her younger opponent, taking the match 7-5 7-5. In a clash which was won from the baseline, Bencic proved to be the more consistent of the two. Some errant play from Ostapenko prevented her from capitalizing on break points, despite hitting twice as many winners as Bencic.

Regardless of her early exit, this has to be an encouraging sign for the Latvian, who had seen a loss of form for the bulk of the 2019 season. Bencic, on the other hand, continues her strong surge to make the second week of the season's first Slam.

Donna Vekic defeated France's Alize Cornet 6-4 6-2 in an hour and 30 minutes. After eliminating Maria Sharapova in the first round, the 19th seed continued her dominant run as she easily dispatched of Cornet.

The Croat could face Bencic in the fourth round, in what would be a very exciting battle between baseliners.

Spain's Garbine Muguruza needed two and a half hours to overcome Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic. The two-time Grand Slam champion faced an inspired Tomljanovic and a partisan crowd, but prevailed 6-3 3-6 6-3.

Muguruza relied on her huge groundstrokes to bail her out of trouble, as she faced a break point in the third set. The 2017 Wimbledon champion next faces either 5th seed Elina Svitolina or unseeded American Lauren Davis.

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