The eight matches scheduled for Saturday in Melbourne are (3) Garbine Muguruza vs. Barbora Strycova, (14) Victoria Azarenka vs. Naomi Osaka, (15) Madison Keys vs. (20) Ana Ivanovic, (9) Karolina Pliskova vs. (21) Ekaterina Makarova, (7) Angie Kerber vs. Madison Brengle, Varvara Lepchenko vs. Shuai Zheng, Johanna Konta vs. Denisa Allertova, and Annika Beck vs. Laura Siegemund.
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That victory in Eastbourne in June was the Sydney-born player’s first victory over a top-10 player and sparked her rise into the world’s top 40. The Brit, played a solid match of tennis as she brushed aside Allertova in a convincing win.
Two breaks of serve were enough in each set as Konta outpowered her opponent with 26 winners to nine and confirmed a comfortable victory in an hour and 22 minutes.
The fact that the Flawil native is being mentored by the five time Grand Slam victor, Martina Hingis, who became the youngest ever major champion of either sex at 16 at the 1997 Australian Open, will surely reinforce her self-belief. “I could say it is my best win of my whole career”.
“I felt a little bit exhausted on court today and my serve didn’t want to work…”
In the fourth round, Sharapova faces the up-and-coming Swiss teenager Belinda Bencic, who won her first two WTA titles in 2015 including Toronto where she beat Williams in the semis followed by the No2 Simona Halep in the final.
Williams arrived in Melbourne without having had a competitive outing since last year’s US Open.
Konta was concentrating so much on her own game yesterday that she was even unaware of the thigh injury that seriously compromised Allertova’s movement.
Taking the first set 6-2, Konta was to play an nearly identical set, again breaking in the first game as well as the penultimate game to seal a memorable match.
“She’s an incredibly tough opponent”, Konta said of the 66th-ranked Czech. Local crowds love her heart-on-her-sleeve mannerisms on court – falling to her knees in desperation when she misses a shot, smiling broadly when she hits a victor, and making hilariously amusing comments in post-match, on-court interviews in her Russian-Australian accent.
Bouchard, Canada’s top female player, backed out of Fed Cup play a year ago citing a heavy schedule, but this time her calendar should be free. “I’m just happy I’m competing at the event I’m at which happens to be the Australian Open, which is pretty cool”.
“I’d like to one day spend most of my time on these stages”.
The 34-year-old Williams seems to be playing some of her best tennis despite concerns about her sore knees and her four-month layoff.
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“She’s here to play well and win. I don’t get too fazed where they put me, the lines are in the same places”.
