Serena Williams set for a Sharapova showdown
He reached the milestone at Rod Laver Arena on Friday, when he moved into the fourth round of the Australian Open with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory over Grigor Dimitrov.
Nishikori will now meet defending champion Novak Djokovic.
“OK, thanks buddy”, Djokovic responded with a laugh. That’s a fact. But there’s nothing else that I’d rather do right now than keep doing that.
Centuries are celebrated across the train tracks at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, but not in the unforced errors column at Rod Laver. I’m playing just playing for me.
The match-up between Sharapova and Williams would certainly be an exciting match, especially considering that it was Williams who bested the Russian in last year’s Australian Open final.
Fifth seed, Sharapova hit 21 aces as she beat Belinda Bencic 7-5 7-5.
That’s the driving factor here.
Lleyton Hewitt’s 20-year professional career is officially over following his third-round Australian Open doubles loss.
Her fourth round opponent Margarita Gasparyan isn’t exactly tough however Williams will find the Russian to be more challenging than her second and third round opponents.
“I faced everyone in the top 10 and the top players”, said Bencic, the WTA’s highest ranked teenager who has already claimed 10 top-10 wins in her short career.
“I was really focused because she has a great game and has had a great season”.
“(Sharapova) had a really good match earlier today …
Under bright sunshine after the roof was opened following morning rain, Williams was broken in the opening game – her only point coming from an ace – but quickly found her groove and won 12 of the next 14.
“I had no idea”, she said, when told Sharapova was up next by a courtside interviewer.
A chink of light for Sharapova is that Williams can sometimes struggle under the weight of expectation as shown by her shock exit at last year’s US Open when she had been expected to close out a calendar grand slam.
“If I think about it like: “Oh, I’ve been around the block, I’ve been to all these tournaments so many times”, that would seem quite heavy”.
“You’re aware of it – I’m a veteran so I”, don’t get distracted, Federer said. “I just played wanting to win a Grand Slam and that’s it. Here I am and I’m still playing just for me and nothing else”.
“That’s going to be a tough one”.
Sharapova conceded only one game in the first and third sets but in between Davis levelled when she won the second-set tie-break.
Kei Nishikori had a 7-5, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over No. 26-seeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and will next play 2008 Australian Open finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who beat fellow Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-4, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (4).
This will be the 21st meeting between the two stars, with Williams holding an 18-2 lead in the all-time series, including wins in the past 17 meetings – Sharapova’s only wins over Serena were in 2004.