Updates from Day 3 of the Australian Open.
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It was Federer’s 299th Grand Slam singles victory as he chases his fifth Australian crown. In fact he hadn’t taken a set from Federer until the Brisbane International two weeks ago, when he lost in three sets.
Alex fought right through to the last point so he made it very competitive at the end in tough conditions today, said the Scot. It was very hot today so I was very glad to get it done in straight sets.. “I have been playing and practising great and working so much”.
When Johanna Konta found out she was playing Venus Williams in the first round of the Australian Open, she thought to herself, “I just hope I stay out there more than an hour”.
Djokovic will be happy to be back on court after his serene progress was interrupted in his post-match media conference on Tuesday when he was forced to deny allegations in an Italian newspaper about match-fixing in 2007. I don’t know if you’re trying to create a story about that match or for that matter any of the matches of the top players losing in the early rounds. “So it’s not easy, but on the court I try to concentrate on whoever is over the net”. That’s kind of when I started getting into that a little bit.
“He played better than me”.
Williams soon got into the groove and was moving well, pressuring the Hsieh serve with searing returns and a wild volley from the Taiwanese handed her the initial break to pull 2-0 clear.
World number one, Williams beat Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-Wei 6-1 6-2 on Rod Laver Arena as Federer saw off Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3 7-5 6-1.
No. 13 Roberta Vinci beat Irina Falconi 6-2, 6-3 to advance, and is a potential fourth-round rival for No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska, who beat Eugenie Bouchard 6-4, 6-2 in a match featuring two former Wimbledon finalists.
“In terms of stages this was definitely the biggest stage I’ve won on”, she said.
Nine times out of ten, you know where the ball is going when Konta steps up for a groundstroke: deep and crosscourt and into the corner.
Five-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova cruised into the Australian Open third round on Wednesday, sweeping past Aliaksandra Sasnovich with the loss of just three games.
After breezing through the first set – as against Williams – she butchered a simple volley for 2-0 in the second, but a sublime backhand volley on the run on the way to holding for 2-1 moments later demonstrated that she is the mistress of the moment, able to forget errors and push on to the next point.
Sharapova has not won a Grand Slam title on hard-court since she beat Ana Ivanovic to capture the 2008 Australian Open.
“It was a good match-up for me to play someone who can hit any shot at any time, and anywhere on the court”.
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Venus had beaten Konta in the quarter finals of the Wahun Open last year but this time 24-year-old Konta delivered a confident performance in the Rod Laver Arena.
