The women’s No5 seed and 2008 champion Sharapova dropped her first set of this year’s tournament, but her 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-0 victory over Lauren Davis marked her 600th match-win, a figure that only 16 other women have ever reached.
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Fernando Verdasco withdrew from the Australian Open doubles competition Friday, three days after beating 14-time major victor Rafael Nadal in the first round of the singles tournament and a day after his own exit in the second round.Verdasco beat Nadal in 4 hours, 41 minutes on Tuesday, then lost to Dudi Sela in four sets on Thursday.
Another reason for the second set hiccup from Sharapova was her first serve percentage. One, Maria is a better and more experienced player – she is now No. 5 and has won five majors – while Davis is No. 103 and never won a third-round match at a Slam.
Nevertheless, Sharapova managed to turn it around in the third set and looks to be in good form heading into her match with Bencic.
If the fourth-round results go on rankings, she’ll meet No. 5 Maria Sharapova in a quarterfinal match that will feature both of last year’s finalists.
“I was quite happy I was able to step it up in the third set”.
The five-time grand slam victor was joined in the fourth round on a day of rain which meant closure of all three showcourt roofs at Melbourne Park by Swiss 12th seed Belinda Bencic, who also needed a recovery to defeat Kateryna Bondarenko of the Ukraine 4-6, 6-2, 6-4. Davis made the most out of it in the second set, but she was blown away by the former Wimbledon champion in the first and third sets. “Oh boy. Is this a friendly reminder that I’m getting old?” – the 29-year-old joked when a court interviewer congratulated her after the game. “Here I am at 28, and feeling like I still have many more years ahead of me. I can say that was probably the best win of my career”.
“I’ve got nothing in my head”.
“I just wanted to push the envelope again, just bring pop culture to tennis, kind of make it really fun”, she said.
Radwanska received treatment for a calf issue during her match against Monica Puig on Margaret Court Arena, but had little trouble overcoming the Puerto Rican 6-4 6-0.
The BBC and BuzzFeed reports said 16 players had been repeatedly flagged to tennis authorities for suspicious performances, including a Grand Slam victor, and half of them were at this year’s Australian Open.
This was 28-year-old Sharapova’s 600th career win and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) was quick to recognize the achievement.
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Russia-born Australian Daria Gavrilova was inspired by a raucous home crowd in Hisense Arena as she clinched a thrilling 6-4 4-6 11-9 win over Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic. The American lost in straight sets to Lukas Rosol in the second round 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5), 6-3. She won the first set in 26 minutes only losing 2 points on her serve.
