Storm Hunter surges into third round of Australian Open
Storm Hunter was all smiles after the most significant singles win of her career on Wednesday. Photo: Getty
Storm Hunter’s unlikely singles renaissance has continued, with the Australian dispatching her doubles nemesis Laura Siegemund to surge into the Australian Open third round.
After a decade of toil, Hunter finally claimed her maiden Open singles victory on Monday and backed that up two days later with a hard-fought 6-4 3-6 6-3 win over the German veteran.
Hunter ended 2023 as the world’s No.1-ranked doubles player, with Siegemund one of the few to recently get the better of the Australian with wins at the season-ending WTA Finals in Mexico and the United Cup semi-final earlier this month in Sydney.
The German’s singles ranking of 78 is also more than 100 spots better than Hunter’s, but that disparity counted for nothing on Wednesday in front of a parochial crowd on John Cain Arena.
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“Laura’s an amazing competitor,” the 29-year-old Australian said.
“I knew she wouldn’t go away and I was going to have to play my game and earn it.
“She wasn’t going to give me any freebies.”
The first set was an unusual affair, with the first seven games all involving breaks of serve.
Hunter finally snapped the sequence in the eighth game, only for Siegemund to also hold for the first time.
But the Australian kept her nerve from 30-0 down in the 10th game, reeling off four straight points to take the opener 6-4.
Siegemund hit back hard in the second set, coming back from an early break down to force the contest into a decider.
The Australian grabbed the crucial final break in the eighth game and successfully served out the match in two hours and 21 minutes.
“Being in the third round is a dream come true,” she said in her post-match courtside interview.
“I’ve obviously watched so many players do it, Australian players like Ash (Barty) and Dasha (Daria Saville).
“They’re really good friends of mine and to be able to do that in front of you guys is amazing and in front of my team and my parents.”
Hunter’s third-round opponent will be Seigemund’s regular doubles partner Barbora Krejcikova from the Czech Republic.
The No.9 seed made short work of Germany’s Tamara Korpatsch 6-2 6-2.
The only other Australian still in the women’s singles draw is Ajla Tomljanovic, who plays Latvia’s 2017 French Open champ Jelena Ostapenko in the second round on Thursday.
-AAP
