Heads and tails for Sabalenka and Osaka in Brisbane; the prodigy Andreeva was afraid

An intense day this Wednesday at the Brisbane tournament. The first seed and current champion of the Australian Open, Aryna Sabalenka defeated Italian Lucia Bronzetti 6-3, 6-0 to seal their place in the round of 16, a round where Naomi Osaka was present.

The Japanese, who passed her first fight in 15 months without a problem on Monday after taking time off to have a child, she fell in her match against another former world number one, the Czech Karolina Pliskova (3-6, 7-6(4) and 6-4) in a high quality rivalry.

Osakafour-time Grand Slam champion, started the match well, with five aces that allowed him to win the first set in 37 minutes, against an opponent who looked rusty and received a bye in the first round .

Pliskova found her rhythm in the second set, however, and although Osaka’s solid serve repeatedly rescued her from trouble until the tie-break, he was unable to prevent the Czech from leveling the contest.

An early break gave Pliskova the lead in the deciding set, and she saved three break points in the next game to maintain her lead over her 26-year-old rival.

Another star of the day was Mirra Andreeva. The young sensation of world tennis, only 16 years old, continued to set the stages on fire by leaps and bounds and added his second victory in the tournament.

As in his debut, The Russian had no mercy on her rival and won 6-2, 6-1 against compatriot Liudmila Samsonovanumber 15 in the world and fourth seed, to enter the round of 16, where they will face Australian Anastasia Rodionova this Thursday.

The day also left us with the elimination of the only Spanish woman in the running. Cristina Bucsa said goodbye after losing to Polish Magda Linette 6-3, 7-5.