Mobilenews24x7 Bureau
Melbourne, Jan 22: The Melbourne Park is all set for some intriguing fourth-round clashes as Simon Halep (Romania), Danielle Collins (USA) and Alize Cornet (France) registered their victories in Australian Open round three on Saturday.
Former world No 1 Halep overpowered Kovinic 6-2, 6-1 in 6 4 minutes as she rode a streak of 11 consecutive sets win at the Australian Open so far.
Kovinoc was a hard nut to crack for Halep as she had sprung an upset, defeating reigning US Open champion Emma Raducanu to become the first player representing Montenegro to advance to the last 32 at a Grand Slam event.
Halep will next face Cornet, who recovered from a set and 4-1 down to topple Tamara Zidansek 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Cornet overcame 29th seed Zidansek, a semifinalist at Roland Garros last year, in a grueling two-hour, 43-minute encounter. She had upset world No 3 Garbine Muguruza in the previous round.
In a thriller played out at the Rod Laver Arena, Collins out-dueled impressive Danish teenager Clara Tauson to progress in the same quarter of the draw as Halep and Cornet.
In a battle of rallies and aggressive ball-striking, Collins forged ahead 4-1 in the first set only for Tauson to recover and build her own 6-4, 4-2 lead.
But Collins willed herself to a 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 triumph on her fourth match point.
An Australian Open semifinalist in 2019, Collins will meet an AO 2018 semifinalist in Elise Mertens, who dominated Zhang Shuai for the loss of only four games.
In 70 minutes at Kia Arena, Mertens posted a 6-2, 6-2 victory, committing only nine unforced errors while Zhang sprayed 28.
Mertens advances to the second week at Melbourne Park for the third straight year.
Later on Saturday, former world No.15 Kaia Kanepi survived a fright against Australian wildcard Maddison Inglis before storming to victory.
The 24-year-old Inglis dominated the first set before Kanepi adjusted and settled; the Estonian veteran, who turns 37 this year, won 10 of the last 11 games of the match to advance 2-6, 6-2, 6-0.
Kanepi, who upset AO 2016 champion Angelique Kerber in the first round, now stands one win away from her seventh career Grand Slam quarterfinal.
She will take on world No 2 Aryna Sabalenka, who beat 31st seed Marketa Vondrousova in three sets.
