No. 2 Wozniacki saves 2 match points, advances to 3rd round

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Caroline Wozniacki was two breaks down and a point away from a second-round exit at the Australian Open, her quest for a first major title seemingly about to hit another barrier.

Time to attack.

The No. 2-ranked Wozniacki fended off two match points and rallied from 5-1 down in the third set against No. 119-ranked Jana Fett, winning the last six games in a 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 win on Wednesday.

"That was crazy," said Wozniacki, who has reached two Grand Slam finals. "I don't know how I got back into the match. I was like, 'this is my last chance. I have to go in and attack.'

"At 5-1, 40-15, I felt like I was one foot out of the tournament. She served a great serve down the T — it was just slightly out. I was kind of lucky."

Wozniacki won the next nine points, and 24 of the 31 points played from when she first faced match point. She clinched a 75-minute third set on her first match point when Fett netted a backhand.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the 2008 finalist here, rallied from 5-2 in the fifth to overcome Denis Shapovalov 3-6, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5 in a 3-hour, 37-minute match. And 38-year-old Ivo Karlovic overcame Yuichi Sugita 7-6 (3), 6-7 (3), 7-5, 4-6, 12-10.

Marta Kostyuk came from the other angle, the 15-year-old qualifier followed up her first-round win over 25th-seeded Peng Shuai with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over wild-card entry Olivia Rogowska.

The Australian Open junior champion last year, who entered the season-opening major ranked No. 521, became the youngest player since Martina Hingis in 1996 to win main draw matches at the season-opening major.

So far, Kostyuk is guaranteed around $143,000 for her run through qualifying and into the third round, although could lose some of that after being given a code violation after the chair umpire ruled she had communicated with her mother in the crowd.

Kostyuk is managed by Ivan Ljubicic, who works with Federer, and so gets the benefit of some first-rate analysis.

"Ivan is always helping me ... after every match, he's telling me what's wrong," she said, smiling, after she framed a wayward serve on her first match point but got it right the second time.

Things will get harder for her now, against fellow Ukrainian and No. 4-seeded Elina Svitolina, who had a 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 win over Katerina Siniakova.

Another Ukrainian, Kateryna Bondarenko, beat No. 15-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-3 and No. 19 Magdalena Rybarikova beat Kirsten Flipkens 6-4, 0-6, 6-2.

Belinda Bencic had a letdown two days after upsetting Venus Williams, losing 6-1, 6-3 to Thai qualifier Luksika Kumkhum.

Bencic, who combined with Roger Federer to win the Hopman Cup for Switzerland earlier this month, saved three match points on her serve before netting a backhand to give No. 124th-ranked Kumkhum a spot in the third round for the first time.

"I tried to reset and focus on the next match," Bencic said. "I think it was also a very tough second round, for me the toughest I could get."

Among the seeded men advancing were No. 6 Marin Cilic, who beat Joao Sousa 6-1, 7-5, 6-2, and No. 10 Pablo Carreno Busta, who was leading 6-2, 3-0 when Gilles Simon retired from their second-round match with a thigh injury.

No. 23 Gilles Muller outlasted Malek Jaziri in five sets, Kyle Edmund had a straight sets win over Denis Istomin — who beat then defending-champion Novak Djokovic in the second round here last year — and No. 28 Damir Dzumhur beat John Millman.

Ryan Harrison beat No. 31 Pablo Cuevas 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-4.

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