On Tuesday, No. 8-seeded Williams trudged off Rod Laver Arena after her surprising 6-4, 6-3 loss to Johanna Konta, a British player making her debut in the Grand Slam’s main draw. She served out the set in 43 minutes.
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It was the eighth time she’s lost in the first round of a Grand Slam tournament and the third in Australia, where she reached the quarterfinals in her first appearance in 1998 and lost the final to her youngest sister, Serena, in 2003.
“It’s great to be back on this court after a great run past year”.
“I think it would be silly to look at Venus’ age and somehow consider that as a reflection of her level”.
Konta’s copybook was blotted as Williams put up some resistance to break when her opponent was serving for the match, but as with the first set Konta came good at the second attempt.
Williams’ next opponent will be an 18-year-old – she’ll face the victor of the match between Russia’s Daria Kasatkina and Croatia’s Ana Konjuh, who were both born the year before Williams’ first Australian Open.
“You try to stay composed, not get carried away by heat or get distracted”, Djokovic said.
The world number one beat No. 90-ranked Taiwanese 6-1, 6-2 at the Rod Laver Arena, as she seeks a record-equalling 22nd major title.
No. 3 Garbine Muguruza needed exactly an hour to beat Estonian qualifier Anett Kontaveit 6-0, 6-4, No. 11 Timea Bacsinszky advanced over Katerina Siniakova 6-3, 7-5 and No. 15 Madison Keys, a semifinalist here a year ago, had to save set points in the first before beating Zarina Diyas 7-6 (5), 6-1.
“Leaving here is all positive I think”, Evans said.
The $5,000 fine is the highest a female player has faced for skipping a mandatory news conference, and the second highest since Marat Safin was fined $10,000 at the 2001 French Open.
Sharapova reached the third round with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the first match completed on day three, when light rain caused an hour-long delay getting started on the outside courts.
With Williams’ knee giving her problems in the latter half of 2015 and in the lead-up to Melbourne Park, the Italian did her best to push her around the court but the top seed was moving freely and held for 1-1.
MELBOURNE – Serena Williams and Roger Federer stamped their class on the Australian Open on Wednesday as a top anticorruption official criticised tennis’s efforts against match-fixing following a major controversy this week.
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Fifth seed Maria Sharapova, in the same half of the draw as Serena, crushed Japan’s Nao Hibino in a ruthless first round display as she fired a warning to her rivals at the Australian Open.
