Kerber cleans up Pliskova to race into round four

MELBOURNE ( Reuters) - World number one and reigning champion Angelique Kerber wasted no time in racing into the fourth round of the Australian Open with a 6-0 6-4 victory over Kristyna Pliskova on Rod Laver Arena on Friday.

The 29-year-old German served poorly in the first set and had a minor wobble in the second but recovered her composure to progress comfortably to a meeting with American Coco Vandeweghe.

Pliskova, the lefthanded twin of U.S. Open finalist Karolina, finally got on the scoreboard when she held serve in the ninth game of the contest and immediately broke when Kerber badly miscued a backhand at the net.

With men's champion Novak Djokovic having been knocked out in the second round on the same court a few hours earlier, Kerber will be delighted that she recovered to win in two sets after being taken to three in her first two matches.

(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Sudipto Ganguly)