DAY 2 of the WTA Adelaide International saw first seed Australian, Ash Barty bounce back from a shock loss in the Brisbane International last week, taking down Russian opponent, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in a mammoth three sets. All but two matches on Day 4 saw opponents play off for spots in the Round of 16, with Barty and Romanian, Simona Halep straight through to the quarter finals. Sixth seed Aryna Sabalenka and Hsieh Su-Wei went toe-to-toe in a similar three-set battle, seeing Sabalenka run out victor in just over two hours of play.

Sabalenka clocked up five aces to Su-Wei’s nil, proving her 12th ranking is more than just a number, able to dominate the contest. Meanwhile, Barty had something to prove in this matchup, and prove she did, losing the first set but coming back to win the second and third despite a challenging finish to the game, but eventually running out victor, 4-6 6-3 7-5. Barty racked up 11 aces with over 70 per cent over first serve points won, and while she collected more double faults than Pavlyuchenkova, Barty was cleaner across the court.

Fellow Aussie Arina Rodionova put up an impressive performance in the Round of 16 with a 6-2 6-2 victory over 25th-ranked American, Sloane Stephens. Rodionova dropped just four games to Stephens – two in each set, 6-2 6-2 – while both Priscilla Hon and Ajla Tomljanovic both went down in straight sets, with Tomljanovic unlucky to come up against second seed Romanian, Halep. Halep was clinical in the 6-4 7-5 victory, holding momentum throughout and not allowing Tomljanovic to get a real sniff of a chance. Hon challenged Julia Goerges early before denying her a second set victory to head into the Round of 16.

In easily the biggest victory of the day, eighth seed Marketa Vondrousova took down her German opponent Tatjana Maria in under an hour, collecting the 6-3 6-0 victory on her way to a Round of 16 appearance. American Bernada Pera fought through a tough first set against Barbora Strycova, eventually collecting a 7-6 6-3 victory, while Greece’s Maria Sakkari put up a similar performance with a straight sets, 7-5 6-2 win in the books over Russian, Vitalia Diatchenko.

Day 2 Results:

[1] A. Barty (AUS) defeated A. Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) 4-6 6-3 7-5
[2] S. Halep (ROU) defeated A. Tomljanovic (AUS) 6-4 7-5
[6] A. Sabalenka (BLR) defeated S. Hsieh (TAI) 5-7 6-1 7-5
[8] M. Vondrousova (CZE) defeated T. Maria (GER) 6-3 6-0
J. Goerges (GER) defeated P. Hon (AUS) 7-6 6-3
B. Pera (USA) defeated B. Strycova (CZE) 7-6 6-3
A. Rodionova (AUS) defeated S. Stephens (USA) 6-2 6-2
M. Sakkari (GRE) defeated V. Diatchenko (RUS) 7-5 6-2