Sixth seed Elina Svitolina and seventh-seeded Karolina Pliskova kept their dreams of a maiden Grand Slam title alive Thursday ahead of 23-time major winner Serena Williams swinging back into Australian Open action.
Despite being ranked in the top 10, neither has progressed further than the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park.
Self-assured Svitolina dismantled Viktoria Kuzmova of Slovakia 6-4, 6-1 to make the third round, while Pliskova woke up after losing the first set to race past Madison Brengle 4-6 6-1 6-0.
Williams is in action later against Eugenie Bouchard, while six-time winner Novak Djokovic turns back the clock in a night match with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Rod Laver Arena.
World number one Simona Halep, who narrowly survived a first-round scare, is also back on court against American Sofia Kenin, who won the warm-up Hobart International and is on a six-match win streak.
Ukraine's Svitolina scored her biggest career win by clinching the WTA Finals in Singapore last October, and is bubbling with confidence.
"It definitely brought me lots of confidence and showed I can play at a really high level," she said. "So I'm just trying to transfer this to the Grand Slam."
- Doesn't quit -
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