Konta flows to halt Venus progress in Melbourne

It didn’t get any better in the second set with a despondent Williams, her left thigh heavily strapped, unable to handle the Konta serve or find the shots to hurt an opponent oozing confidence. Muguruza also hit 22 winners in the match with just 10 unforced errors.

“I have been going non-stop since the London Olympics, and seeing that this is another Olympic year, I kind of wanted to start the year out really fresh and really go at it again as hard as I can”, she added.

“Whenever I step out on the court, whether it is at Wimbledon, whether it is here or in Wuhan or in Timbuktu, it really is just about enjoying where I am at that time and regardless of who I’m playing, to really knuckle down and take care of things on my end”.

Williams may not be the force she was when she won Wimbledon five times but the 35-year-old American, the oldest player in the 128-strong singles field here, enjoyed her best season for five years in 2015, ending the campaign in the world’s top 10 for the first time since 2010. “I don’t have yet the stand and clear opinion about that”.

“Darling, I guess we got to make more babies. Honestly it’s on a borderline, I would say”, he said. Djokovic said smiling, as the crowd erupted in laughter. “Fortunately for me, I didn’t need to get directly involved in these particular situations”.

The 37th-ranked Bouchard of Canada beat Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia 6-3, 6-4 to advance to a second-round matchup against No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska.

The 16th-seeded Wozniacki was up a service break in the second set.

But Davenport couldn’t travel fulltime with Keys because of her family and commentating responsibilities, so Keys is now working with former ATP player Jesse Levine.

It continued a downward spiral for Wozniacki at Melbourne Park, starting with a semifinal loss in 2011 and continuing with an exit at an earlier round every year since.

“It’s great”, Williams said, when asked about her knee injury.

Williams’ withdrawal from the Hopman Cup a fortnight ago with a knee problem had prompted much speculation about her fitness, but the American – who narrowly missed out on winning all four Slams last season – looked in good shape.

Her only stumble came while serving for the match when she was broken by Hibino, but Sharapova broke back in the next game to clinch the victory.

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

“I think being down set point nearly helped me”.

Sixth-seeded Thomas Berdych advanced to the second round with a 7-5, 6-1, 6-2 win over Yuki Bhambri in a straight-forward opener to his 50th consecutive major tournament. Half of those are entered in the Australian Open, the reports said. The 34-year-old told reporters at the pre-tournament press conference that she’s at 120 or 130 percent.

Seven-time major victor Venus Williams lost the only final she reached at the Australian Open – to her sister back in 2003 – and her 16th trip to Melbourne Park finished in a first-round 6-4, 6-2 loss to Johanna Konta.

Surveillance footage showed Williams quickly leaving the restaurant and appearing to confront the man on the sidewalk.

“It wasn’t quick, so that actually worked to my advantage as well”, Williams said. Can she match last year’s success given that she will turn 36 this summer? “I had a good preparation”.

A blockbuster Buzzfeed/BBC report headlined “The Tennis Racket” landed Sunday, alleging that the men’s side of the sport has been marred by widespread match-fixing that was ignored by tennis’ governing bodies. The last player to do it was Steffi Graf in 1988. No players were identified.

Kvitova beat the Thai qualifier 6-3, 6-1.

A late wobble, which used to be a regular feature of her game, made the score respectable but there was to be no comeback for Williams as Konta finally served out. She could potentially play rival Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals.

Over on Hisense Arena, 2014 U.S. Open finalist Kei Nishikori of Japan is playing Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany.