Maria Sharapova advances to fourth round of Australian Open

Sharapova has never played Bencic but will know of her recent conquests.

Speaking with Rennae Stubbs for the on-court interview, the Russian appeared unaware that she had won so many matches in her career.

Russia’s titled tennis star and former World’s No. 1 Maria Sharapova picked up her 600th career match victory on Friday and advanced to the Australian Open fourth round. Six hundred wins. That’s a lot. I’ve played here in Melbourne for many years.

She continued to pressure the Davis serve and got a break in the third game of the second set.

Sharapova stormed to victory in her most recent match, securing her place in the tournament’s final 16 after defeating Davis 6-1, 6-7 (5-7), 6-0.

Fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska swept past Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig Friday and into the Australian Open fourth round as she continued her relentless march towards the tournament second week.

And most importantly, Davis is an American whose last name is not Williams.

Sharapova is the 7th player to secure 600 match wins, joining the likes of Venus and Serena Williams and Jelena Jankovic.

The five-time grand slam champion, however, looks to be finding her rhythm and she will now meet talented Swiss Belinda Bencic in the fourth round.

Davis is an aggressive player who will cause Sharapova significant problems if the Russian once again struggles with her serving.

Sharapova’s Slam record against the Williams sisters, however, is 2-8.

The mark came during her 13th appearance at the Australian Open.

Williams, who plays later Friday, has been a huge weight around Sharapova’s neck throughout her career, with the Russian unable to beat her since 2004. She now faces, an inter-generational battle against 12th seed Bencic. It’s a tough fourth round. “It’s great that we can start here”.

Without dropping a game, Sharapova bashed consecutive aces with her first two serves and closed the match, when her opponent, Lauren Davis swiped a backhand long.

“I mean, I really love what I do”.

“Be that as it may, generally speaking, truly content with how I turned out in the third and ventured up, thinking of it as’ been, you know, numerous weeks since I’ve been in that position”.

The second set mirrored the first as the 21-time Grand Slam champion went a break up immediately and was rarely troubled by Kasatkina, who failed to muster a single break point.

Asked Friday how she navigated the world of professional tennis as a young player, Sharapova credited her parents. After exchanging a trio of holds, the world number five drew first blood as two loose forehand flew off of Davis’ racquet, landing in the tramlines to secure Sharapova the early break. Did you chat yourself up in the mirror?

“It’s not something I ever aimed for but when it happens, it’s very special”, he said. “Other than that, that’s all I can share”.

“It was a little bit sore in the beginning, but after treatment it was fine”.

Bencic also said she was learning how to cope with all the media attention around her. “When you’re a good junior and you have the success early, you have to learn it and you have to deal with it”, she said.

“I have been doing it for a long time. You always have to find new inspirations and new goals, find things that really get you going in the morning”.