Sharapova into 3rd round at Aussie Open

Federer will next play Grigor Dimitrov, who beat Marco Trungelliti 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5. “So it’s not easy, but on the court I try to concentrate on whoever is over the net”.

Williams’ next opponent will be 18-year-old Russian Daria Kasatkina, who defeated 18-year-old Ana Konjuh of Croatia 6-4, 6-3.

Williams shot down the allegations in her post-match news conference, adding: “When I’m playing, I can only answer for me, I play very hard, and every player I play seems to play hard”.

“I hope to keep it up as long as I choose to play tennis”, he said.

As the 104th edition of the Australian Open got underway in Melbourne on Monday, an explosive corruption scandal engulfed the sport, with tennis authorities at the centre of claims they ignored warnings of match-fixing.

No. 15 seed David Goffin escaped from an early deficit to reach the second round for a second straight year, rallying past Sergiy Stakhovsky 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in two hours and 36 minutes.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga went to the aid of a ball girl in his match, gently helping her off the court in the third set when she became ill before finishing off a 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 win over Omar Jasika.

Sharapova, the 2008 champion and four-time finalist at Melbourne Park, dropped two service games in the first set, including once when serving at 5-1, but was otherwise consistent except for some over-hit ground strokes.

Williams faces a potential quarterfinal match against Maria Sharapova, which would be a rematch of the 2015 final.

“I thought I served great”. The report said that in the last decade 16 players – all at some stage ranked in the top 50 – have been repeatedly flagged to the integrity unit.

The final set was largely one-way traffic as the No. 3 seed went on to win 6-3 7-5 6-1.

Djokovic has said he didn’t believe any elite players were involved. Her best performance at the Australian Open is a semifinal berth in 2012.

Six-time champion Serena Williams was playing Hsieh Su-wei in the following match on Rod Laver Arena.

Williams has only fallen in the second round of a Grand Slam tournament twice in her career – losing to her sister Venus in her Australian Open debut in 1998, and being beaten by Garbine Muguruza at the 2014 French Open.

The 2014 US Open finalist dominated the exchanges with his dynamic all-court game, hitting 35 winners and just 21 unforced errors.

Light rain is falling at Melbourne Park, delaying the start of play on side courts at the Australian Open on Wednesday.