Australian Open: Federer, Djokovic Through To 4th Round

The BBC, meanwhile, hailed her as “Queen Konta” in a congratulatory tweet after the match.

She has assured her interviewers, when asked, that she still has vivid childhood memories of her early years in Australia, where she played under-12 nationals during the heat of an Australian summer.

SISTER ACT: Serena will have a chance to exact some family revenge on Kasatkina, who beat Venus Williams in an Australian Open warm-up tournament at Auckland last week.

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

“I think it’s just an accumulation of having opportunities to play against such players, really start feeling comfortable on these sorts of stages”. “After the season that I’ve had, 2015, anything aside from a title or a final is not a success”, Djokovic said after his third-round win over Andreas Seppi.

Johanna Konta became the first British woman in 29 years to reach the fourth round at the Australian Open on Saturday, giving rise to “a lot of Australia questions” at Melbourne Park.

Allertova, who was close to tears after the match, said: “I hurt my left leg in the opening round, it got worse in the second and today it was just not me on the court”.

Lauren Davis was a little hungry after edging Maria Sharapova in a tight, second-set tiebreaker on Rod Laver Arena, so she made a decision to have a little snack in her courtside chair.

It was the third year in succession she had failed to make the main draw at the Australian Open.

For a long time, Rod Laver Arena just about belonged to Roger Federer.

Serena won three majors – the Australian and French Opens and Wimbledon – past year which took her to within one of Graf’s long-time record of 22.

The 21-time grand-slam champion did not face a single break point and came up with 27 winners, while making just eight unforced errors to send a resounding message to her rivals.

This was only the third time in her 14 grand slam matches that Konta has been the expected victor based on rankings, with the other two occasions coming in the less pressured first rounds, but she showed few signs of the nerves that once crippled her at the top level. Sharapova also has another match to play first against 12th-seeded Belinda Bencic on Sunday. I am not that surprised, she played well in the French Open and was such a good player.

Defending champions Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams were set to play night matches Friday.