Konta eased past Zheng 6-2 6-3 to move into the third round of a major tournament for only the second time, after she reached the last 16 at the US Open previous year.
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Williams won three majors, the Australian and French Opens and Wimbledon, past year which took her to within one of Graf’s long-time record of 22, and put her three clear of both Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova.
Russia’s Maria Sharapova plays a backhand return during her women’s singles match against Belarus’s Aliaksandra Sasnovich on Day Three of the 2016 Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on Wednesday.
The top seed and defending champion saved two third-set points against Seppi before reeling off the next four points to clinch it 6-1, 7-5, 7-6 (8/6), his 33rd straight victory over Italian opposition. And her stock has soared since, but before we get too far ahead of ourselves she needs to play the player and not the rank. We want to see it grow, ‘ she said. The Canadian’s return is called in, but the Pole immediately challenges, and it’s a good decision as Hawkeye confirms it is was indeed out, giving Radwanksa the win 6-4, 6-2 and a spot in the third round.
“In fact, I was watching a Telenovela [yesterday]”, she said. Sharapova’s only loss in the first round was in 2010 at the Australian Open to Maria Kirilenko.
“Yeah, I watch it every day”, Williams said in a sarcastic tone and an annoyed glare, as reported by USA Today Sports.
Grigor Dimitrov has struggled to a 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 win over Marco Trungelliti of Argentina in a second-round match at Melbourne Park.
A veteran Spanish lefthander and a 25-year-old Chinese qualifier who almost quit tennis last year are back in action Thursday at the Australian Open, hoping to prove that their upset wins over two of the top players in the first round were no flukes.
Williams has never faced Kasatkina in a competitive match before, but she might do well to glean some tips from her sister Venus, who lost to the 18-year-old world number 69 in Auckland earlier this month.
“Yeah, an impressive player”, said Sharapova.
‘Hopefully with each match I can just do better’.
Bright sunshine has returned to Melbourne Park and the roofs on all three arenas are open after late-morning rain forced about an hour-long delay to the start of play on outdoor courts.
Ultimately, the Russian’s big-match experience paid off and she raced to a 3-0 lead in the second set as Sasnovich’s confidence waned and an increasing number of errors crept in.
“I think your perspective changes; the game also develops and it becomes – I don’t know, you just have a different attitude about it”.
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“I don’t have a chat in the mirror, I think I get fined for that”, Sharapova said courtside of her trip to the locker-room.
