Serena’s breezy fourth round win sends warning shot to rivals

If the fourth-round results go on rankings, she’ll meet No. 5 Maria Sharapova in a quarterfinal match that will feature both of last year’s finalists.

She may have dominated Maria Sharapova during her career, but Serena Williams believes there is no pressure on her at the Australian Open.

A change of clothing after losing the second may have made all the difference for Sharapova on the way to her 600th Tour win: “I changed my dress and felt a little bit lighter which made me move better”.

Gavrilova, ranked 39th in the world, had never been past the second round of a grand slam before this tournament and will now play Spain’s 10th seed Carla Suarez Navarro for a place in the quarter-finals.

“I have gone through many different motions to try to find my groove again and something that would hold up over many matches, ” she said.

Gasparyan tried hard to break the serve and at least try to get into some rallies with the champion, but was found lacking by her average concentration and ability to overcome to the power of Williams’ shot play.

“It’s not like I think about what I can do worse”, said Sharapova when asked what she could do to snap the streak. “It’s only going to be tougher, especially against Serena”.

Sharapova, who won the title in 2008 and lost three finals at Melbourne Park, accurately predicted a rematch with Williams in the next round.

But the 12th-seeded Bencic constantly made her more fancied opponent play one extra ball, eliciting a whopping 46 unforced errors from Sharapova’s racket.

Sharapova opened the match against the American with a comfortable 6-1 first set before Davis pushed the former world number 1 to her limits in the second.

The world number 103 was unable to carry her momentum into the decider, however, as Sharapova sealed a 6-1 6-7 (5/7) 6-0 win.

But the six-time Melbourne Park victor, gunning to equal Steffi Graf’s Open-era record of 22 Grand Slam titles, was in full control, doing the necessary to take the set easily in 30 minutes.

There was a full house on Margaret Court Arena for the match, including a big section of Japanese supporters waving flags, while matches on uncovered outside courts were delayed because of rain.

“That will be a good match, I have nothing to lose”.

He will confront top-ranked Novak Djokovic if the Serb beats 14th seed Gilles Simon.

In men’s play, Japanese seventh seed Kei Nishikori got past Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-5, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 despite nursing a wrist problem.

Almost the entire match was played from the baseline, with each player approaching just eight times. “It’s very exciting, I must tell you”.