MELBOURNE, Australia — Karolina Pliskova has carried her title-winning form from a warm-up tournament into the Australian Open, dropping just four games en route to the third round of the season’s first major.
Pliskova won the first 10 games in her second-round match on Thursday before her opponent, Anna Blinkova, an 18-year-old qualifier from Russia who is ranked 189th, even held serve. Blinkova briefly acknowledged the cheers from the crowd before Pliskova finished her off, 6-0, 6-2, in less than an hour.