For the first time at Melbourne Park, electronic advertising boards at Rod Laver Arena, Margaret Court Arena and Hisense Arena display the name “William Hill” during breaks in play.
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MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – Venus Williams tried to rally, winning two games and getting another break-point chance after falling a set and 5-0 behind, before her 16th trip to the Australian Open finished in a first-round loss to Johanna Konta.
Konta, who had previously lost to Williams in Wuhan past year, will play China’s Sasai Zheng in the second round on Thursday.
“In terms of a decorated tennis player and the biggest champion that I’ve ever played, yeah, she definitely is and I’m very proud of the way I was able to stay very present and just keep going whatever the scoreline”.
The 35-year-old world No. 10 skipped her mandatory press conference with the media on Tuesday in Melbourne, and has been assessed with a K fine, reports Nick McCarvel of USA Today.
Last year, she had a successful partnership with former No. 1 Lindsay Davenport, reaching the second week at three of the four Grand Slam tournaments.
Azarenka is back to full fitness after a frustrating 2015 campaign, during which she failed to progress beyond the quarter-finals at any grand slam.
In that first meeting, she served for the match 5-3 in the third, only for Williams to wrestle the victory, 7-5.
A late wobble, which used to be a regular feature of her game, made the score respectable, but there was to be no comeback for Williams as Konta finally served out.
“It’s OK. I don’t want to make this match like dramatic”, said Halep, who refused to blame an Achilles tendon problem that forced her out of a warmup event for her earlier loss.
She hit 26 winners, including one around the post that she thought may have been a first for her, at age 34.
Other seeded victors, all in straight sets, were No. 11 Timea Bacsinszky, No. 14 Victoria Azarenka ruthlessly double-bageling Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck, No. 15 Madison Keys in her first match of 2016, No. 18 Elina Svitolina, No. 19 Jelena Jankovic, No. 20 Ana Ivanovic, No. 21 Ekaterina Makarova, and No. 30 Sabine Lisicki. Venus had brought home more than $32 million in official prize money – more than $31 million more than her 24-year-old opponent.
“I have all the respect in the world for Venus”.
The world number two will play Aussie Sam Groth, holder of the game’s fastest serve, on Thursday. “So in that sense I’m a bit of an anomaly”, she said.
“I retired because I had a baby and I didn’t really think to come back”, the Ukrainian said after the match.
Not against Konta, who closed out the first set with an ace before racing to a 5-0 lead in the second.
The American regained her place in the top 10 in 2016 but, turning 36 in June, there must now be serious doubts about her ability to win another slam.
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Venus Williams’ 69th Grand Slam came to a premature halt in the first round Tuesday when she was shocked by rising British star Johanna Konta, who was making her Australian Open debut. Can she match last year’s success given that she will turn 36 this summer?
