Sharapova stumbles at times but advances at Australian Open

And yet the world No. 3 notched another one as he outclassed Grigor Dimitrov 6-4 3-6 6-1 6-4 on Friday in the third round of Australian Open 2016, becoming the first man to amass 300 match wins at Grand Slam level.

The 34-year-old, who has won 17 major titles in his career, dropped his first set of the tournament, but ended up sealing a 6-4 3-6 6-1 6-4 triumph over the 27th seed.

Federer, a 17-time grand slam victor, is playing his 65 grand slam in a row and 67 in total at the current Australian Open in Melbourne.

“Like when I reached 1,000 (career wins) a year ago, it was a big deal for me. An extra per cent here, 5% overall can make a massive difference when you’re talking about trying to win a tournament”. Yeah, so it’s very nice. Two of the three meetings gone longer than straight sets, and one of those were the Round of 16 in the 2012 French Open.

“I play mind games with them because I can speak Italian!” And Roberta Vinci was knocked out by Germany’s Anna-Lena Friedsam in three sets, meaning there will be no rematch of last year’s US Open semi-final when she halted Williams’ bid for a calendar-year Grand Slam. “Oh boy. Is this like a friendly reminder that I’m getting older?”

World number seven Kei Nishikori beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in four sets and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had little trouble in seeing off compatriot Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-4, 7-6, 7-6.

Up next for Djokovic is 14 seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon, who knocked off Argentina’s Federico Delbonis 6-3, 6-2, 6-1.

This story has been corrected to show the score in the last set of the Sharapova-Davis match was 6-0. “I was happy with the way I finished”. The five-time Australian Open champion was playing at the same time as Serena Williams, a six-time Australian Open victor, so he shuffled over to Margaret Court Arena.

Asked whether speculation surrounding his personal affairs had affected his performance, Grigor said: ‘I really try not to think about that’.

Kasatkina raised rambunctious cheers from sympathetic fans in the terraces when she prised a game in each set but Serena finished full of running, closing out the match when her frazzled opponent pushed a forehand wide.

No 15 David Goffin beat No 19 Dominic Thiem 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 7-5 – his first win against a top-20 player at a grand slam. “I played a quality player who took out Federer last year here and who has been on the tour for many years”. Maria Sharapova and Belinda Bencic were both forced into third sets, but both eventually managed to avoid being yet another seed to fall. Victoria Azarenka and Garbine Muguruza will be featured in the first few matches during the day session on Rod Laver, while the night session will be highlighted by what promises to be a thrilling contest between Ana Ivanovic and Madison Keys.

Seppi ousted Federer in the third round past year, but is 0-11 against Djokovic.