Muguruza advances to Australian Open third round

Spanish woman tennis player Garbiñe Muguruza defeated lower-ranked American Samantha Crawford to advance to the third round of the Australian Open here on Wednesday.

Muguruza, the seventh seed, beat world No. 162 Crawford 7-5, 6-4 in one hour and 35 minutes, reports Efe.

The Spaniard will now face in the third round Latvian Anastasija Sevastova, who beat Slovakian Kristina Kucova 6-3, 6-4.

Another Spaniard, two-time quarter-finalist Carla Suarez was eliminated following her 6-7 (1), 3-6 defeat to Romanian Sorana Cirstea in the second round.

Suarez has reached the Australian Open quarter-finals twice in 2009 and 2016.

She stressed that she has to try to restore her level as soon as possible.

Suarez, world No.12, admitted that she had focused on her shoulder pain during the game.

The Spanish player added that she might not appear in the first round of the Federation Cup against the Czech Republic, due to her shoulder.

--IANS

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