(Australian Open) Winners galore for Serena

Eighth seed Venus Williams has provided Australian Open fans with the shock of the tournament so far after she was bundled out by World No. 47 Johanna Konta of Britain here on Tuesday.

She raced to a 4-0 lead in the first set before wrapping it up in 38 minutes and completed the second in similar style.

Konta was really going for her groundstrokes in a high-risk, high-reward approach that kept Williams, who had wrapping on her left leg, on the defensive.

“When the draw came out and I saw who I was playing, I thought ‘I just hope I stay out there more than an hour, ‘” Konta said after the match.

Showing no discomfort from the swollen knee which forced her out of this month s Hopman Cup mixed-team tournament, Williams toughed it out 6-4, 7-5 against Italy s Camila Giorgi.

“If you want to, you can ask her”, Serena said.

Williams was on course for a calendar-year Grand Slam in 2015 with wins here and at the French Open and Wimbledon before a semifinal loss at the U.S. Open to Roberta Vinci of Italy.

“In terms of a decorated tennis player and the biggest champion that I’ve ever played, she definitely is the biggest and I’m very proud”.

The fifth seed also made short work of the world No. 105 Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich, marching on with a 6-2 6-1 win.

Fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska accounted for Canadian starlet Eugenie Bouchard 6-4 6-2 after overcoming an early break.

Her older sister, seven-time major victor Venus Williams, was fined $5,000 on Wednesday for skipping a mandatory news conference following her first-round exit the previous day.

Unfortunately for the 105th-ranked player, it didn’t get much better as Sharapova went up another level, stretching out all over the blue court of the Rod Laver Arena.

“It’s great to be back on this court after a great run past year”.

“My first one I think”, she said.

American Lauren Davis will play Sharapova after progressing to the third round when her opponent Magdelena Rybarikova retired after losing the first set.