Williams had not completed a set since her dream of winning all four grand slams in one year was dashed in the US Open semi-finals in September, yet she proved far too strong for Italian Camila Giorgi in their first-round match.
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Williams was fined $3,000 by the International Tennis Federation at last year’s French Open for skipping her media duties following a first-round defeat by Sloane Stephens.
The eighth-seeded American struggled to get a foothold in the match against her Australia-born opponent in the heat of Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday, however, and crashed out in 79 minutes.
Their only previous meeting, last fall in Wuhan, China, saw Venus prevail 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 in a match that required a staggering 2 hours, 39 minutes.
Kei Nishikori of Japan reacts to a lost point during his second round match against Austin Krajicek of the United States during their second round match at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016.
Federer, playing his 65th major, advanced 6-3, 7-5, 6-1 over Alexandr Dolgopolov.
Murray also said the tours should do a better job educating players – especially younger ones – what to do in case they are approached by match fixers. “You have to be proactive with things like this and go and speak to the players rather than them reading about it in the newspapers or listening to it on the TV or the radio”. While her sister Serena attended her post-match commitments, she did call a premature end to the conference, saying: “I’m calling it, I’m out” as she left the room.
“I don’t think I made that many errors today”.
Maria Sharapova became the first player to advance to the third round at the Australian Open when she beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus 6-2, 6-1.
“It’s always great support from Michael”. I was playing an incredibly great player.
Sharapova’s 2015 was a very tough and injury-riddled year for the Russian.
Finding that extra gear when required is one of the factors that have helped Roger Federer to 17 grand slam singles titles but the Swiss barely needed to move out of first in his opening match against Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili.
“Every time I go back to Rod Laver Arena, I have these memories come back to me from the first win back in 2008, and, of course, some of the epic matches I’ve played on that court”, Djokovic said.
No. 12 Belinda Bencic had a 6-3, 6-3 win over Timea Babos and 92nd-ranked Kateryna Bondarenko earned one of her biggest wins since returning from retirement after having a baby in 2013, beating two-time major victor and No. 23-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-1, 7-5.
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She will meet either Lauren Davis or Magdalena Rybarikova in the last 32.
