Serena Williams, Sharapova advance to 3rd round of Australian Open

Venus skipped her post-match news conference, incurring a $5,000 fine.

“This is where I played my first Grand Slam right on this court and I’m still going, it’s such an honour”, said Williams, a six-time champion who has a 70-9 record at Melbourne Park.

Federer advanced with a straight-sets win over Alexandr Dolgopolov to extend his streak to 17 years of reaching the third round or better at Melbourne Park.

Asked, by an Italian journalist, if she’d watched a replay of that match, Williams gave a touchy response: “Yeah, I watch it every day”.

Playing her second round after Top 20 seeds Simona Halep, Venus Williams, Sara Errani and Caroline Wozniacki were all ousted, Sharapova said she believes she has several more years of elite tennis ahead.

“I’m very happy. The conditions are extremely quick so you are not going to find that much rhythm out there”, Federer said.

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.

With five, Djokovic has already won more Australian titles than any other man in the Open era.

“I felt really good and confident today about it”.

It was the eighth time she’s lost in the first round of a Grand Slam tournament and the third time in Australia.

For most of the match, Konta was granted so much time to line up her shots that she could have been a Victorian photographer.

Djokovic had a third-set tussle with French teenager Quentin Halys before winning their night match 6-1, 6-2, 7-6 (7/3), joining Williams and Roger Federer in the next stage.

For the first time in a long time, the resurgent Williams was on the long list of women’s favorites coming into a Grand Slam tournament.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga went to the aid of a ball girl in his match, gently helping her off the court in the third set when she became ill before finishing off a 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 win over Omar Jasika.

Venus had beaten Konta in the quarter finals of the Wahun Open last year but this time 24-year-old Konta delivered a confident performance in the Rod Laver Arena.

Light rain is falling at Melbourne Park, delaying the start of play on side courts at the Australian Open on Wednesday.

The 21-year-old Canadian described her lightweight tank dress for the Australian Open as having “red and white stripes like an American flag or something”.

Seventh-seeded Kei Nishikori, the 2014 U.S. Open finalist, advanced with a 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3 win over Austin Krajicek and No. 6 Tomas Berdych beat Mirza Basic 6-4, 6-0, 6-3 to advance along with No. 15 David Goffin and No. 19 Dominic Thiem.

The American defending champion thrashed her Taiwanese opponent 6-1, 6-2 in a thrilling second round contest to progress through to the next round.

The world No. 1, bidding for a 22nd Grand Slam title to match the great Steffi Graf, cruised through the one-hour romp in glorious sunshine at Rod Laver Arena without dropping serve.

Williams hit seven aces to Hsieh’s zero and won an impressive 85 percent of her first-serve points with a top serve speed of a scorching 122 miles per hour.

“Even if she’s playing with one leg out there, you’ve got to really take care of things on your own, because she’s an incredible player”.