Australian Open: No. 8 Venus Williams upset in straight sets

Venus Williams’s dreams of winning a first Australian Open title at the age of 35 were shattered on Tuesday when she was beaten 6-4 6-2 in the first round by British number one Johanna Konta.

“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 honor”, said Williams, who has a 70-9 win-loss record at Melbourne Park since her debut in 1998.

Against Konta, however, she struggled to connect with her first serve and couldn’t match the Australian-born Konta’s power from the baseline.

The 24-year-old Konta, Britain’s number one ranked female player, needed just 79 minutes to beat her American opponent 6-4, 6-2 in the first round.

British number one Jo Konta destroyed Venus Williams at the Australian Open to record the most spectacular win of her career.

Sharapova strolled into the third round at Melbourne Park with a convincing 6-2 6-1 win over Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich.

French Open champion Stan Wawrinka has advanced to the third round of the Australian Open for the eighth consecutive year with a 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 win over Radek Stepanek.

“I think it’s irrelevant how old she is because she’s such a champion with so much experience and so much knowledge about the game”.

Ana Ivanovic has advanced to the third round at Melbourne Park following a 6-3, 6-3 win over qualifier Anastasija Sevastova in a match that was suspended when a spectator fell on the stairs at Rod Laver Arena.

“Yeah, I had a few problems but, well, I think I’m recovered now”, she said of the foot problem, “so very good”.

She showed no signs of rust or being out of form in her first round match though as she completed a straight sets demolition job Nao Hibino, only dropping four games across the two sets and never looking under one little bit of pressure.

“It’s great preparation for us in the Fed Cup and it’s also an Olympic year”, Konta said.

Sharapova said the shot was still a work in progress, and gave a realistic assessment of its effectiveness against the world No.105: “I had a couple of good ones; I had a couple of really crappy ones. Until somebody comes out with the real proof and evidence, it’s only a speculation for me”.

The start of the year’s first Grand Slam tournament was overshadowed by corruption allegation, and Novak Djokovic recalled his own brush with match-fixing when he was offered $200,000 to throw a match.

Roger Federer extended his streak by reaching the third round for the 17th straight Australian Open, and registered his 299th match win at a major.

She claimed her first Australian Open in 2003, beating sister Venus in the final, and reached her sixth previous year when she toppled Sharapova.

On the men’s side, second-seeded Andy Murray had little trouble advancing to the second round today, beating sometime practice partner Alexander Zverev, 6-1, 6-2, 6-3.

“I’m more excited than nervous now”, Murray said of the pending arrival.

She was licking her lips every time she came up against Willams’s serve, breaking three times in a row and holding twice to race into a virtually unassailable 5-0 lead where she dropped just seven points.