2026 Australian Open: Continuing her strong form, Rybakina reaches the women's singles round of 16 for the second consecutive year

On January 24th Beijing time, the final women's singles third-round match of the 2026 Australian Open concluded at John Cain Arena. The tournament's 5th seed, Rybakina, maintained her excellent form, defeating Czech player Valentova 6-2, 6-3 in 1 hour and 22 minutes to advance to the women's singles round of 16 at the Australian Open for the second year running.

Rybakina entered the season's end in outstanding shape, riding a 13-match winning streak spanning seasons to claim titles at the WTA Ningbo and the WTA Finals. She has kept up her momentum at this Australian Open by defeating Juvan and Gajdosova in the first two rounds.

Facing Czech player Valentova, whom she had never played before, Rybakina dominated the first set, breaking serve three times to take it 6-2 with ease. In the second set, Valentova found her rhythm and mounted a strong comeback, but Rybakina stayed composed. After leveling at 3-3, she won three consecutive games to secure a 6-2, 6-3 victory and advance confidently to the next round.

As the 2023 tournament runner-up, Rybakina last year played a thrilling three-set match against eventual champion Keys in the round of 16, narrowly losing. Now again on the brink of the Australian Open quarterfinals, wearing a full new YONEX outfit and wielding the VCORE 100 racquet, Rybakina aims to make up for last year's disappointment. Her opponent across the net will be 21st seed Mertens. In their seven previous meetings, Rybakina leads 6-1 and looks to continue her strong record this year.

(Text and editing by: Dato)