Osaka advances to 3rd round at Australian Open

Defending champion Naomi Osaka has advanced to the third round of the Australian Open with a 6-0, 6-4 win over Madison Brengle in a night match on Rod Laver Arena.

Osaka dominated the opening set, conceding just four points in the first four games, and clinched it in 20 minutes.

But Brengle, an American ranked 54th, increased the pressure in the second set and broke Osaka's serve in the seventh game.

It triggered an immediate response from the former No. 1-ranked Osaka, who recovered the break immediately and finished off by winning the last nine points of the match.

She will next face Amanda Anisimova, a 20-year-old American who beat Olympic gold medalist Belinda Bencic 6-2, 7-5.

Earlier, French Open champion and fourth-seeded Barbora Krejcikova beat Wang Xiyu 6-2, 6-3 to move into a third-round match against No. 26 Jelena Ostapenko.

In other early second-round results on Day 3 of the year's first tennis Grand Slam event, two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka beat Jil Teichmann 6-1, 6-2, and No. 30 Camila Giorgi beat Tereza Martincova 6-2, 7-6 (2).

Top-ranked Ash Barty, aiming to be the first Australian woman to win the home championship since 1978, was playing Lucia Bronzetti on the main court at Melbourne Park.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)