Melbourne: Jessica Pegula stormed through to the fourth round of Australian Open 2023 with a commanding 6-0 6-2 performance over Marta Kostyuk on Margaret Court Arena.
The third-seeded American needed just 65 minutes to seal victory, staring down eight of nine breakpoints she faced with steely resolve.
In a shaky opening game, three double faults off the Kostyuk racquet helped Pegula nab an early break.
The American third seed kept her rival off balance, breaking again for a 3-0 lead before the Ukrainian began to assert herself, creating five ultimately unconverted breakpoint chances.
Pegula quickly broke again for a 5-0 lead, and held on to serve up her second bagel set of the tournament.
Despite working her way on to the scoreboard in the second set, Kostyuk found it hard to tame the clean-hitting Pegula.
She looked to her coaching team for answers they could not provide as their charge dropped serve in the third game, covering her head with her towel at the change of ends in an effort to regroup.
A chipped backhand into the net from Kostyuk dug the 20-year-old into a 1-4 deficit, though she quickly nabbed one break back to the delight of vocal Ukrainian fans.
But their optimism was short-lived. Kostyuk squandered chances to hold and a misfired backhand gifted Pegula a break and the chance to serve for the match at 5-2.
A lapse in the American’s laser focus gave her foe two break chances, which she saw off to set up match point.
Cool, calm and collected, Pegula closed out proceedings as Kostyuk’s forehand found the net.
Pegula said she was pleased with her ability to dictate point construction as planned, and the third seed wasn’t fazed by occasional brilliance from her foe.
Waiting in the fourth round is a career-first singles clash against 2021 Roland Garros champion and 20th seed Barbora Krejcikova.
