“I thought I played pretty well in the other matches, though – my first match I thought I gave a great effort, and my second match, under the circumstances, I thought I played pretty well, I thought”.
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Gunning for her seventh title at Melbourne Park, the world No. 1 completely overpowered her opponent but Hsieh was more hard than the scoreline indicated.
Defending champion Serena Williams was on song in her Australian Open tennis tournament’s second round clash, cruising past doubles specialist Hsieh Su-Wei, 6-1, 6-2 here on Wednesday.
American Lauren Davis will play Sharapova after progressing to the third round when her opponent Magdelena Rybarikova retired after losing the first set.
Murray revealed he has had his own doubts about the integrity of the sport: “I’ve heard about certain matches where something might have been going on”, he said. “I’ve been doing it a long time”.
“But there’s always a danger, you know”.
“I love your game, great forehand”, she said.
Zheng was competitive from the back but her shots lacked penetration and her serve was weak, allowing Konta consistently to step in and dictate on the half-volley.
She was asked about it in her post-match presser.
Federer, who is trying to extend his record number of Grand Slam crowns to 18, then dismantled his 35th-ranked practice partner Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3, 7-5, 6-1.
Federer will next play Grigor Dimitrov, who has a style that has been compared with Federer’s, after the No. 27-seeded player beat Marco Trungelliti 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.
Her second round win against Zheng was a solid performance throughout.
“I’ve been on tour for a long time”, said the 34-year-old Williams, who is appearing in her 62nd Grand Slam.
In the biggest upset of the day, two-time Wimbledon champion and sixth-seeded Petra Kvitova was beaten 6-4, 6-4 by Russian-born Australian Daria Gavrilova.
28th seeded Italian Seppi took out Denis Kudla in straight sets and will be rewarded with a match against Djokovic, and local hopeful Nick Kyrgios blasted by Pablo Cuevas in three sets.
“I think I served really good and I played a solid match but I feel like I can improve even more so I think that’s a positive”.
“Not something I ever aimed for or looked for, but when it happens, it’s very special”.
“I never think I’m playing fantastic…”
Third seed Garbine Muguruza, the runner-up at Wimbledon a year ago, eased past Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens 6-4, 6-2, while Victoria Azarenka continued her impressive start with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Danka Kovinic of Montenegro.
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Rounding out the rest of Wednesday’s winners on the women’s side were: 10 seed Carla Suarez-Navarro, 12 seed Belinda Bencic, 13 seed Roberta Vinci, Margarita Gasparyan, Yulia Putintseva, Kateryna Bondarenko, Anna-Lena Friedsam and Elizaveta Kulichkova.
