Maria Sharapova overcame a mid-match wobble to secure a 6-1, 6-7 (7), 6-0 win over Lauren Davis in the third round of the Australian Open.
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The fifth-seeded Sharapova, the 2008 champion and a finalist a year ago, downed the American 6-1, 6-7 (5-7), 6-0 in two hours and 14 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.
The fifth-seeded Sharapova will next play No. 12 Belinda Bencic, who beat 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 against Kateryna Bondarenko.
However, the big news of the day was that 19 years after making his first appearance at Melbourne Park as a 15-year-old, Lleyton Hewitt played his final singles match at the Australian Open.
Sharapova and Bencic will pit current and future women’s tennis against each other for the first time, with the teenaged Swiss coming in a full decade younger than her opponent.
“I don’t know if it’s only fitness, but also the focus and the belief that you can really play the best at the most important points”.
Sharapova now heads into the second week with some overwhelming hindrances approaching in her way.
“I’ve been on tour for a long time”, said the 34-year-old Williams, who is appearing in her 62nd Grand Slam.
“I’ve got nothing in my head”.
“But overall it’s not constantly on my mind, how many matches I’ve won in my career”.
She took a bathroom break before the third set, came back on the court and bageled Davis to win the match. “It’s a tough fourth round”, she said.
Oh, wow, I’ve won 600 matches?
“I was quite happy I was able to step it up in the third set”. “I’ve played for many years”. Forbes calculated she earned US$29.7 million in the year to last June, naming her as the highest-paid female athlete for the 11th year in a row.
MARIA SHARAPOVA, on learning that she had just won her 600th career match against Lauren Davis.
Lauren Davis opted for almond butter to recharge when up against Maria Sharapova. In a Grand Slam environment against anyone you can’t expect to get away with it and I didn’t in the second set.
Sharapova cruised through the opening set 6-1 in just 26 minutes, and opened up an early break advantage in the second to look like she would be on her way to an easy win. World No 5 Sharapova won 6-1, 7-6, 6-0. The five-time Australian Open champion was playing at the same time as Serena Williams, a six-time Australian Open victor, so he shuffled over to Margaret Court Arena. “Everything I’ve been trying to work on was kind of clicking today”.
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Williams, bidding for seventh title at Melbourne Park and a 22nd grand slam trophy, faces another unseeded Russian in Margarita Gasparyan in the next round.
