Samantha Stosur’s doubles partner has taken care of business that the big local hope was unable to tend to at Melbourne Park.
German Julia Goerges ousted baseline slugger Zheng Jie 6-3 1-6 7-5 two days after the unseeded Chinese knocked Stosur out of the Australian Open in the second round.
Goerges’ victory advanced her to a fourth-round clash on Sunday with another Chinese player, the sixth seed and 2011 runner-up Li Na, a 6-4 6-1 winner over Romanian Sorana Cirstea.
“She’s a grand slam champion and I have to be there from the first second on,” Goerges said of Li, the 2011 French Open winner.
“You always have a chance to beat those players. I have done it before. Hopefully I can keep going like this.”
Goerges, the 18th seed, had been projected to play ninth seed Stosur on Friday.
Instead, she is sharing a doubles court with the Australian, whose singles campaign ended in the early rounds for the ninth time in 11 visits to Melbourne.
Stosur and Goerges face American Varvara Lepchenko and China’s Saisai Zheng on Saturday for a place in the third round after thumping 16th seeds Daniela Hantuchova and Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3 6-1 in their opener.