Bouchard, who had a long layoff late past year after sustaining a concussion when she slipped and fell in a dressing room at the U.S. Open, was a finalist at last week’s Hobart International after making the quarterfinals the previous week in Shenzhen, China. “You know, because I don’t believe the players are allowed to be sponsored by betting companies but then the tournaments are”.
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Second-seeded Andy Murray has had little trouble advancing to the second round, beating sometime practice partner Alexander Zverev 6-1, 6-2, 6-3.
“I’ve had a really good preparation”.
After world number one Novak Djokovic said he was once offered $200,000 to throw a match, Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis said he had been approached on Facebook.
American Lauren Davis will play Sharapova after progressing to the third round when her opponent Magdelena Rybarikova retired after losing the first set.
“This is where I played my first Grand Slam right on this court and I’m still going, it’s such an honor”, said Williams, a six-time champion who has a 70-9 record at Melbourne Park.
“Yes, I might be rusty, make a few more unforced errors than I would like, but I’m ready to go”, said the 28-year-old, who is attempting to win her first title at Melbourne Park since 2008.
“But after playing for so many years on tour, I should be able to, you know, focus on that and the fact that I have played a lot of matches”.
Sharapova double-faulted on set point as the nerves jangled and her 21-year-old opponent made the most of it with some quality baseline rallies helping her pull back another game.
Raonic said he got used to playing with the guard pretty quickly, though he acknowledged “fiddling with it too much” on the court.
Murray will next play Samuel Groth, who beat Adrian Mannarino 7-6 (6), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
Williams will next face world No. 69 Daria Kasatkina after the young Russian accounted for Croatian Ana Konjuh 6-4 6-3.
Williams is gunning to equal Steffi Graf’s Open-era record of 22 Slams in Melbourne, but has been battling fitness concerns early in the season.
Serena Williams has swiftly moved through to the third round at Melbourne Park with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei in exactly one hour.
Sharapova reached the third round with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the first match completed on day three, when light rain caused an hour-long delay getting started on the outside courts.
“No”, she said. “Unfortunately, my home is Great Britain”.
The fifth-seeded Sharapova’s only stumbles came when she her had her service broken twice in the opening set, including when she held two set points while serving at 5-1.
“Yeah, I watch it every day”.
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No. 10 Carla Suarez Navarro and No. 12 Belinda Bencic advanced along with 92nd-ranked Kateryna Bondarenko, who earned one of her biggest wins since returning from retirement in 2014 with a straight sets win over two-time major victor and No. 23-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova.
