The five-time champion had just beaten 19-year-old French wild-card entry Quentin Halys 6-1, 6-2, 7-6 (3) in the second round on Wednesday night – his 34th win in his last 35 matches at Melbourne Park – when his news conference veered to questions about the issue that has overshadowed the start of the season’s first major.
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Serena Williams of the United States (R) shakes hands after victory in her women’s singles match against Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-Wei on day three of the 2016 Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 20, 2016.
The 21-time grand slam champion, who will meet Daria Kasatkina for a spot in the fourth round, added: “I think I was really focused and, you know, that first round really helped me because I was really just fighting”.
Konta is playing in the Australian Open main draw for the first time.
Top seed, Serena Williams and current world number three, Roger Federer, are through to the next round of the 2016 Australian Open. “He was playing wonderful in the last set… more aggressive than me”.
However, the nerves of serving for the first set against her idol seemed to get too Konta. He has said he’ll leave immediately, regardless of the stage of the tournament, if his wife, Kim, goes into labor in London with their first child.
“But, you know, so many people help me – my coach, my parents, my team, also national team, my sponsor, always try to help me, give me more motivation”.
Fernando Verdasco rallied from a 2-1 deficit to win the last two sets, recovering a break in the fifth as well, claiming a 7-6 (6), 4-6, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2, only his third victory in 17 matches against his fellow Spanish lefthander.
British number one Johanna Konta recorded the biggest win of her career as she knocked childhood hero Venus Williams out of the Australian Open. Williams wore a bright yellow Nike crop T-shirt and skirt for her first match of the Australian Open and for her fans it wasn’t the match but what Williams was the story.
Once ranked 30 in the world, her serial failure at Grand Slams and a horror 2015 in which she fell eight times in the first round and six times in qualifying convinced her it was time to call it quits. “But I’m really excited about it”, said Sharapova, who said she has been interviewing her mother, father and grandparents and plans to include some journals she kept as a young girl.
Konta, 24, admitted her lead-up form wasn’t the best, despite playing at two tournaments before here. “I don’t have any news because I’ve just come off the court”.
“I’m very satisfied with how I dealt with the situation”, Konta said afterwards.
No. 3 Garbine Muguruza needed exactly an hour to beat Estonian qualifier Anett Kontaveit 6-0, 6-4.
Elsewhere, Kateryna Bondarenko earned one of her biggest wins since returning from retirement after having a baby in 2013, beating two-time major victor and No. 23-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-1, 7-5.
“I think being down set point nearly helped me”.
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Ivanovic entered Melbourne with an 0-2 record on the year and lost first round at last year’s Australian Open.
