Melbourne | Rybakina, Navarro and Kasatkina march on

In early action on Day 7 of the Australian Open, 6th seed Elena Rybakina stopped Dayan Yastremska’s run in the 3rd-round, while Emma Navarro, the 8th seed, got past Ons Jabeur in yet another 3-setter marathon, and Daria Kasatkina dispatched the tricky Yulia Putintseva in straight sets.

I love three sets! I love tennis so much, I can’t resist, I gotta play three sets! I came out playing really well, maybe she wasn’t playing her best, and then she played a really great four games to get it to 5-4, and a really good second set… She’s tough, because she’ll pull out the slice and go either short or deep … so it’s tough to try to cover both, but I just tried to be ready for anything, put an extra ball back in play, and make her play one more. Emma Navarro

As World No 2 Iga Swiatek was sweeping aside Britain’s Emma Raducanu to reach the Last 17 in 70 minutes on Rod Laver Laver, Rybakina was defeating Yastremska, the No 32 seed and a semi-finalist here last year, 6-3 6-4 in 90 minutes on Margaret Court Arena.

Rybakina overcame mid-match injury concerns, having taken an off-court medical time-out after 3 games to seek treatment for her lower back.

The Russian-born Kazakh struck less than half of Yastremska’s total of unforced errors, 16 to 37, and had to come from a break down in the second set to seal the straight-sets win, but not before the Ukrainian saved 6 match points over the final 2 games, with Rybakina landing it on the 7th.

Afterwards 25-year old Rybakina said that she will need some magic if she is to go deep at Melbourne Park after struggling with her movement because off the back issue.

Asked if her back was OK, Rybakina replied: “Not really. I will see my physio and hopefully he does some magic.

“It’s not so good since it’s [my] lower back. Hopefully we can do everything possible, but, for now, it doesn’t seem too good, to be honest.”

The Kazakh acknowledged that she had employed aggressive and, at times, risky tennis to avoid getting stuck in long rallies after becoming encumbered by the injury during the match.

The 2022 Wimbledon champion had a number of physical problems last year, enduring fatigue and illness as well as the back issue.

Rybakina will face either Danielle Collins or Madison Keys, who were due to play later on Saturday in the late night session, in the 4th-round on Monday.

© Yuichi Yamamzaki/AFP via Getty Images

Meanwhile American 8th seed Emma Navarro won her her 3rd successive 3-set encounter with a 6-4 3-6 6-4 victory over Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur.

The American No 8 seed outlasted the 3-time Grand Slam finalist after 2 hours and 3 minutes playing inside the Margaret Court Arena.

Things got complicated for Navarro in her 2nd career match against Jabeur, after she sprinted out to a 5-0 lead to start the match, but, just as she did against Peyton Stearns and Wang Xiyu in her two previous matches, the World No 8 gutted out the victory from a third-set deficit to reach the Last 16 in Melbourne for the first time.

“I love three sets! I love tennis so much, I can’t resist, I gotta play three sets,” Navarro joked post-match after improving to 23-9 in 3-set matches since the start of 2024. “I came out playing really well, maybe she wasn’t playing her best, and then she played a really great four games to get it to 5-4, and a really good second set.

“I just wanted to stick in there, keep believing in myself and know that, if I put myself in the best position to do what I want to do, that maybe I’d come out on top, and I was able to do that.

“She’s tough, because she’ll pull out the slice and go either short or deep … so it’s tough to try to cover both, but I just tried to be ready for anything, put an extra ball back in play, and make her play one more.”

She explained that endurance was forced on her at a young age by her father, who would drag his 4 children on arduous and lengthy hikes and bike rides.

“We made up a term ‘biking and crying’ because we’d be six hours in, we’d all have tears in our eyes and just [be] exhausted trying to pedal up a hill,” she reminisced. “I learned a lot of toughness growing up, and that’s a lot thanks to him.”

“I work really hard on my fitness, on my ability to go the distance, and stick in there for as long as it takes.”

Later, Navarro told the media she is hoping to make a deep run at this year’s Australian Open.

“My obsession has always been to improve every day, and I have never been afraid to make changes for that,” she said. “What I like most about tennis is feeling that, no matter how high you are, you still have room to progress. That work ethic is a fundamental part of my success.”

The American reached her first major semi-final at Flushing Meadows in September, and now has been involved in 30 tour-level 3-setters since the start of last season, the most of any female player.

© Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Navarro wasn’t the only Top 10 player to seal a spot in the Last 16 during Saturday’s day session, with Daria Kasatkina also advancing to join Swiatek, Rybakina and the American in round 4.

The Russian 9th seed won 13 of the last 16 games to defeat tricky No 24 seed Yulia Putintseva, 7-5 6-1, having trailed 0-3 at the start of the match, with 8 of those games coming consecutively from a 5-4 lead for the Kazakh in the first set.

Later, Kasatkina faced the media and said: “We don’t have time for anything. There were barely two weeks of vacation before working hard, and now, without realising it, I’m in the second week of a Grand Slam.

“It’s impossible to celebrate achievements or enjoy what you’ve done. Whatever you do, it doesn’t matter, because next week you have to compete again. That’s why tennis sucks.”

Into the Australian Open 4th-round for the first time in her career as well, Kasatkina will face Navarro for a quarter-final berth, while Swiatek takes on lucky loser Eva Lys from Germany, a 4-6 6-3 6-3 winner over Romanian Jaqueline Cristian, and Rybakina will face the winner of Saturday night’s all-American match between Collins, the No 10 seed, and Keys, the 19th seed.

Also in the mix is unseeded Russian, Veronika Kudermetova, who upset Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia, the 15th seed, 6-4 6-2, after an hour and 46 minutes on 1573 Arena on Saturday afternoon, and awaits the winner of the other night match between Elina Svitolina, the No 28 seed from Ukraine, and World No 4 Jasmine Paolini from Italy.