World No 1 Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova are through to the third round of the Australian Open after comprehensive wins on Wednesday.
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No. 13 Vinci beat Irina Falconi 6-2, 6-3 to advance in the opposite quarter of the same half of the draw.
Williams’ fine will be taken out of the $34,500 Australian dollars (£16,700) she earns for playing in the first round at Melbourne Park and is the second largest for a media infringement since Marat Safin was hit with a $10,000 USA dollars penalty at the 2001 French Open. “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. “I have been playing and practising great and working so much”.
It was the eighth time she’s lost in the first round of a Grand Slam tournament and the third in Australia, where she reached the quarterfinals in her first appearance in 1998 and lost the final to her youngest sister, Serena, in 2003.
“She’s definitely a tricky opponent”, Williams said after her win. Federer compiled 25 aces to Dolgopolov’s two.
Sharapova won the Open in 2008 and finished runner-up previous year.
“I think I served really good and I played a solid match but I feel like I can improve even more so I think that’s a positive”.
Sharapova’s match on Rod Laver Arena was one of only three that began on schedule – the other two were also in stadiums with covered roofs – after light rain delayed play for just over an hour on outside courts. Pouille, a 21-year-old Frenchman, entered the match with a 1-7 record in Grand Slam matches and with a No. 90 ranking.
No. 7-seeded Kei Nishikori, the 2014 U.S. Open finalist, advanced to the third round in the men’s draw with a 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3 win over Austin Krajicek of the United States.
Konta, who reached the fourth round of last year’s US Open, blitzed out-of-sorts former Wimbledon victor Williams 6-4, 6-2 in just 79 minutes, and will now face China’s Zheng Saisai in round two.
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Kuznetsova was dumped out of the tournament by former doubles victor Kateryna Bondarenko 6-1, 7-5 at the Hisense Arena.
