Can lone British woman Johanna Konta reach the last 16?
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Britain’s Johanna Konta reached her second successive Grand Slam fourth round with victory over Czech Denisa Allertova at the Australian Open. “In a Grand Slam environment against anyone you can’t expect to get away with it, and I didn’t in the second set”, she said, of allowing Davis back into the match in the second set.
“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 and you really can’t do any stupid mistake in the third set when it’s 4-all”.
Japan’s seventh seed Kei Nishikori brushed off a wrist problem to move past Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-5 2-6 6-3 6-4 and set up a last 16 meeting with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who beat compatriot Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-4 7-6(7) 7-6(4). She said Puig “was playing with incredible intensity, I was really in trouble in that first set”.
The Russian fifth seed needed two hours, 14 minutes to see off the hard-working 103rd-ranked American 6-1, 6-7 (5/7), 6-0 with the roof closed on Rod Laver Arena on a wet Melbourne day.
While Serena Williams was busy beating up on another hapless opponent at Melbourne Park yesterday, Maria Sharapova was fighting off a spirited opponent to join her in the third round.
“My second match (against Hseih Su-Wei) I thought, under the circumstances, I thought I played well”. Sharapova also has another match to play first against 12th-seeded Belinda Bencic on Sunday. “I think it just makes you more aware”, she said.
Allertova is an unfancied opponent but unsafe, having enjoyed a similar, albeit less dramatic, advance up the rankings, climbing into the top 100 for the first time in her career previous year.
The five-times Australian Open champion raced out to an opening 5-0 lead before Seppi, who beat Federer in four sets at the same stage a year ago, finally held his own serve though the Serb clinched the first set in 25 minutes in the next game.
Kasatkina won her first game a lot earlier than she did in the set before.
– The depth is real: Talk to any veteran and she’ll tell you: the game is tougher than it used to be.
The win was 28-year-old Sharapova’s 600th on tour.
His voice sounding emotional at times, Raonic added: “Unfortunately in Saskatchewan in a very small community there was a shooting at a high school, so I want to take a moment and give thoughts to that community”.
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The world number one, who yesterday denied allegations that he deliberately lost a match at the Paris Masters in 2007, branding them as “absurd”, took advantage of a catalogue of unforced errors from the Italian to progress to the next round by sealing a 6-1, 7-6, 7-5 success.
