Sydney, January 1 (NationPress) China's Yuan Yue achieved a remarkable victory against ninth seed Marta Kostyuk on Wednesday night, propelling her into the third round of the Brisbane International tennis tournament. Yuan defeated Kostyuk, who is currently ranked 18th in the world, with a score of 6-4, 6-3 during their second-round match at this pivotal Australian Open warm-up event.

The Chinese player, ranked 49th globally, showcased her skills by winning 65.5 percent of points on her own serve, surpassing Kostyuk's 54.8 percent despite having a lower first serve percentage than the Ukrainian player. "I'm very excited to win this match, my first of 2025," Yuan expressed on the court after her victory.

She credited the strong presence of her Chinese supporters in the crowd for providing her with the energy needed to secure the win. Yuan is set to face another Ukrainian player, Anhelina Kalinina, in the round of 16 on Thursday afternoon, local time, as reported by Xinhua.

During the afternoon session on center court, the men's second seed and reigning champion Grigor Dimitrov defeated Australia's Aleksandar Vukic with a score of 6-2, 7-6 to advance to the quarterfinals. This marks the eighth time in nine appearances that Dimitrov has reached the quarterfinals of this tournament.

In a surprising turn of events, the second seed in the women's draw, Emma Navarro, was eliminated from the tournament after being defeated by local player Kimberly Birrell with scores of 7-5, 7-5. This victory marked Birrell's second career win over a top-10 opponent and her first since 2019.

The top seeds in both the men's and women's singles draws, Novak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka, are scheduled to compete on center court on Thursday night against Gael Monfils and 15th seed Yulia Putintseva, respectively.

In doubles action, both Djokovic and Australia's Nick Kyrgios were eliminated on Wednesday by the top seeds Nikola Mektic and Michael Venus.