Linette beats Alexandrova to set Polish milestone
Magda Linette made it through to the fourth round of a grand slam for the first time after she beat Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-3 6-4 at the Australian Open.
The result, paired with Iga Swiatek's third-round win, also means that two Polish female players are through to a grand slam fourth round for the first time in the Open Era since 2008, when Marta Domachowska and Agnieszka Radwanska both reached the same stage of the same tournament.
Indeed, Linette also became just the fourth female Polish player to reach the last 16 at a grand slam in the Open Era after Domachowska, Radwanska and the current world No.1 Swiatek.
Linette, who had lost each of her previous six grand slam third-round matches, recovered from a break down in the first set against the No.19 seed, while the second went very differently.
The world No.45 raced out to a 4-0 lead and seemed on course to finish the job quickly, before Alexandrova fought back to 5-4.
Linette kept her nerve to serve out the win and set up a fourth-round clash against fourth seed Caroline Garcia, who came from a set down to defeat Laura Siegemund.
