Karolina Pliskova, Elina Svitolina Advance to Australian Open's Third Round

Karolina Pliskova will play No. 27 Camila Giorgi, who beat Iga Swiatek 6-2, 6-0.

MELBOURNE, Australia — Karolina Pliskova extended her winning start to the season by reaching the third round of the Australian Open with a rain-interrupted 4-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory over Madison Brengle.

The 2016 U.S. Open finalist started this year with a run to the title at the Brisbane International and entered the season’s first major seeded seventh, still with a chance to regain the top ranking depending on her performance at Melbourne Park.

After dropping serve twice in the first set against Brengle, Pliskova completely dominated the second and third sets and capped it with a pair of aces.

“Some breaks, some good tennis, and some bad mistakes from me too,” Pliskova said. “The first set wasn’t very good from my side, but she played some good points and was very solid.”

She’ll next play No. 27 Camila Giorgi, who beat Iga Swiatek 6-2, 6-0.

In other early matches, WTA Finals winner Elina Svitolina beat Viktoria Kuzmova 6-4, 6-1 in 67 minutes, No. 13 Anastasija Sevastova beat teenage Canadian qualifier Bianca Andreescu 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 and No. 21 Wang Qiang Wang had a 6-2, 6-3 win over Aleksandra Krunic.