Australian Open 2020: Ashleigh Barty, Naomi Osaka seal place in third round with easy wins; Petra Kvitova beats Paula Badosa

Melbourne: Top-ranked Ashleigh 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."

Petra Kvitova secures hard-fought second round win

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 on Wednesday to the third round.

Defending champion Naomi Osaka advances to third round

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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