Fifth-seeded Sharapova reaches 3rd round at Australian Open

Defending champions Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams raced into the Australian Open second round Monday as the year’s first Grand Slam was rocked by claims of widespread match-fixing in tennis.

“It all started here – this is where I played my first Grand Slam right on this court and I’m still going, it’s such an honour”, said Williams, who has a 70-9 win-loss record at Melbourne Park since her debut in 1998.

“I haven’t played many matches in many weeks so it’s great to come out here and start my season at the Australian Open”, said Sharapova. It’s been reported that while Sharapova had not previously heard much about her first round opponent, the Japanese Nao Hibino is a huge fan of the Russian player and has posters of her all over her walls.

“I guess I can only speak from my age point of view, and that’s when I was a late teenager, I probably didn’t think that I’d be playing in my late 20s”, Sharapova said. “I was like, “Yay”.

Maria Sharapova powered past Aliaksandra Sasnovich, 6-2, 6-1, to roll into the third round and earn her 50th Australian Open win.

Williams was on course for a calendar-year Grand Slam in 2015 with wins here and at the French Open and Wimbledon before a semifinal loss at the U.S. Open to Roberta Vinci of Italy.

“I was quite pleased in the way I was able to play in my opening match”.

Other seeded players advancing included No. 12 Belinda Bencic, who had a 6-3, 6-3 win over Timea Babos, and No. 13 Roberta Vinci, who beat Irina Falconi 6-2, 6-3.

Aliaksandra Sasnovich faces fifth seed Maria Sharapova in the Australian Open on Wednesday priced as bet365’s 12/1 outsider to progress into the last-32.

“I had an opponent that I had never played before today; that’s always tricky, but I’m happy that I got through”.

One thing for sure: the Williams sisters aren’t playing doubles, so that will be the last sighting of Venus this year.

Kei Nishikori of Japan reacts to a lost point during his second round match against Austin Krajicek of the United States during their second round match at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia.

The third-seeded Muguruza, who has reached the fourth round on two of her three previous trips to Melbourne Park, broke Kontaveit three times in a 23-minute first set and got an early break in the second.

Kateryna Bondarenko notched one of her biggest wins since coming out of retirement after having a baby in 2013, beating two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-1, 7-5 in the second round at Melbourne Park.