Jan 17, 2014 3 min read

After a strong start to the 2014 tennis season, winning her first two rounds of play in the Australian Open, Alison Riske faltered in the third round.

The McMurray native lost to the tournament’s ninth seed, Angelique Kerber of Germany, 6-3, 6-4. The match, played in temperatures that exceeded 110 degrees, lasted one hour and 15 minutes.

Riske fell behind early against Kerber and never recovered. Kerber broke Riske’s serve in the seventh game of the first set and then again in the ninth game to win 6-3. In the second set, Riske battled back from an 0-2 deficit to go up 3-2, but then couldn’t hold her serve.

Despite excessive heat, Riske dominated play in her first two matches in the tournament. The 23-year-old netter trounced Yanina Wickmayer, 6-1, 6-1, to advance to the Round of 32.

Riske wasn’t challenged the rest of the way, facing only one other break point in the match that lasted just under one hour.

In the first round of action, Riske made quick work of Elena Vesina as she dispatched the Russian, ranked No. 24 in the world, 6-2, 6-2, in 58 minutes.

While her opponents have been tour veterans, Riske, by contrast, had barely met expenses until recently. She had played primarily in the minor leagues of pro tennis since graduating from Peters Township in 2008.

Riske needed a courtesy wildcard entry just to get into Wimbledon last July, but won two main draw matches there, then reached the Round of 16 at the U.S. Open in September. She is now one of a handful of Americans left in the Australian Open and has cracked the Top 50 in the rankings for the first time.

Riske also paired with U.S. teenage sensation Madison Keys in doubles action Down Under.

Keys, 18, of Rock Island, Ill., had an incredible 2013 in singles during her first full year on the tour and is now ranked 36th in the world.

Riske has had some success in doubles on the pro tour with a number of different partners and is now ranked No. 278. Riske played doubles last summer for the Philadelphia Freedom in World Team Tennis.

In their opener, Riske and Keys defeated Xinyun Han, 23, of China and Miki Miyamura, 18, of Japan, 6-2, 7-5.

The two matches each lasted about one hour and 15 minutes.

Although Riske and Keys broke serve in the first game of the match and breezed through the first set, they trailed Han and Miyamura in the second set, 3-5. They fought off several match points to tie it at 5-5. Riske and Keys then closed out the match.

The duo then stunned the 12th-seeded team of Flavia Pennetta, 31 of Italy and Kristina Mladenovic, 20, of France , 7-5, 6-4, in the second round of doubles.

Keys and Riske’s doubles run ended in the round of 16 when they lost to the Czech team of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Safarova, 6-4, 6-3.

In a match of few errors, the Americans lost the first set when they could not hold serve at 4-5.

The Czechs opened 4-1 in the second set and held on.

Despite the defeat, Riske moved up to 270 in the doubles rankings.