Sharapova will either face Lauren Davis or Magdalena Rybarikova in the third round.
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Williams was fined $US3,000 ($A4,340) for the same offence at last year’s French Open after losing to compatriot Sloane Stephens. That approach didn’t reach him directly, he said, and was rejected immediately.
Williams was more exhausted by the press conference than her second-round romp at Melbourne Park.
“What (is there) to say?” “I just want to win every point when I’m out here so if my racquet doesn’t do it, I just get my body to do it”, the world number one shrugged afterwards.
“I don’t think I made that many errors today, which is something I was trying to get back into”. He was level for a couple of minutes, before Djokovic went on a roll to win the next seven games.
“Until somebody comes out with the real proof and evidence (of match-fixing), it’s only speculation”. Djokovic, who had two wisdom teeth removed after the Madrid Masters earlier that month, said after the loss to Santoro that he was not fully fit because he was still taking medication. The reports alleged 16 players, all ranked in the top 50 at some stage and half of them playing at the Australian Open, had repeatedly raised suspicion due to their results and had been flagged with tennis authorities, but had not been sanctioned.
After an explosive report claimed some top players were suspected of being serial match-fixers, Chris Eaton, director of integrity at the International Centre of Sport Security, said corruption was commonplace in tennis’s lower tiers.
On Wednesday, Federer extended his streak of reaching the third round at the Australian Open to 17 consecutive years.
But an Italian reporter persisted, asking Serena Williams several questions about Roberta Vinci after the world No. 1 cruised to a second-round win at the Australian Open. It was Federer’s 299th match win at a major.
The oldest player in the women’s draw, whose maiden Australian Open was in 1998, had high hopes coming into the season’s first major tournament after a rich vein of form late a year ago.
“Obviously there are nerves, and also the nerves of the many thousand people around you, which is impossible not to feel either”, Konta said. “But there’s always danger, you know”. “Suddenly I missed tennis so much so I decide to come back and compete again”.
Sydney-born Konta, who only became a British citizen in 2012, raced to a 5-0 lead before Williams broke for a consolation game and then held, before her opponent wrapped it up.
“It all started here”.
Konta, ranked 47th in the world, inflicted what was only Williams’ eighth first-round exit in 62 grand slam appearances.
In the men’s draw, No. 2-seeded Andy Murray had little trouble advancing to the second round, beating sometime practice partner Alexander Zverev, 6-1, 6-2, 6-3.
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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.
