Danilovic dances into second week after monster scalp
THE WOMENS seeds continue to fall at the 2025 Australian Open, with Jessica Pegula the latest big name to be bundled out after losing to Serb Olga Danilovic last night.
Danilovic, who had previously never made it past the second round at Melbourne Park, won the first set tiebreak and then blitzed Pegula in the second to take the win 7-6, 6-1.
“I’m super happy with the way I played,” Danilovic said post match. “She’s on top of the world. She’s such a great player. I knew I had to play my A, A, A, plus, plus, plus game to beat her. In the back of my mind, I really believed in myself.”
Danilovic fared much better than Pegula in a number of key areas, including aces, double faults, first serve in, wins off first serve, and winners. In terms of winners, the Serb recorded more than double the American.
Danilovic now moves on to face Paula Badosa, who over two and a half hours was really made to work for her win over Marta Kostyuk, but ultimately prevailed 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.
Kostyuk was plagued by double faults – ultimately serving a whopping 16 of them – and ultimately Badosa was better at taking her chances than her Ukrainian opponent.
Danilovic was not the only upset victor yesterday, with Donna Vekic prevailing over Diana Shnaider. However it was aa pretty successful day for the favourites, with Coco Gauff, Aryna Sabalenka, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Mirra Andreeva all advancing.
AUSTRALIAN OPEN WOMEN’S RESULTS: JANUARY 17
A. Sabalenka (1) defeated C. Tauson 7-6, 6-4
O. Danilovic defeated J. Pegula (7) 7-6, 6-1
D. Vekic (18) defeated D. Shnaider (12) 7-6, 6-7, 7-5
C. Gauff (3) defeated L. Fernandez (30) 6-4, 6-2
A. Pavlyuchenkova (27) defeated L. Siegemund 6-1, 6-2
B. Bencic defeated N. Osaka [RET] 7-6, 0-0
P. Badosa (11) defeated M. Kostyuk (17) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
M. Andreeva (14) defeated M. Frech (23) 6-2, 1-6, 6-2
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