Barty advances at Wimbledon as Gavrilova ousts Stosur
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Seeded stars Ashleigh Barty and Daria Gavrilova have given Australia two women in the Wimbledon third round for only the third time in a decade.
The 17th-seeded Barty toughed out a 6-4, 7-5 victory over former finalist Eugenie Bouchard, after Gavrilova turned the tables on Samantha Stosur with a 6-4, 6-1 win over her Fed Cup teammate on Thursday.
Barty will meet either Russian 14th seed Daria Kasatkina or Kazakh Yulia Putinseva for a spot in the second week, after ending Bouchard's run from qualifying with a superb serving display.
She struck nine aces and was broken just once in fighting back from 5-3 down in the second set to seal victory in a tick over an hour-and-a-half.
Gavrilova had lost her past two matches to Stosur this season on clay, but upstaged the former US Open champion on London's hallowed grass to, like Barty, reach the last 32 for the first time.
The world number 25 will play either unseeded American Taylor Townsend or Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich on Saturday with a huge opportunity to make the second week.
The lopsided result looked unlikely early, with a nervy Gavrilova double-faulting on her very first service point of the match.
The pair split the first six games on Show Court 18 before Stosur double-faulted herself to hand Gavrilova a 4-3 lead.
The decisive break was enough for Gavrilova to clinch the first set after 38 minutes.
She charged to a 5-0 lead in the second to take control before Stosur broke back and made Gavrilova fight until the 23-year-old sealed victory on her seventh match point after one hour and 20 minutes.
While Gavrilova entered uncharted waters with the breakthrough win, Stosur — Australia's only major singles champion in the past 16 years — exited before the third round for the 12th time in 15 Wimbledon appearances.
AAP
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