Sharapova advances to quarterfinals at Australian Open

It truly is an incredible achievement, were we to consider that she is now 28-years-old, and her appetite for the game and for winning is still at high levels.

The victory was the third successive straight forward win for the American, who has not been pushed in Melbourne since her first round clash with Italy’s Camila Giorgi.

For Bencic to be successful against Sharapova she has to get involved in Sharapova’s service games. In the third set she made 88% of her first serves winning 93% of the points.

“I had no idea”, she said, when told Sharapova was up next by a courtside interviewer. She played solid tennis throughout, finishing with 19 winners and 14 unforced errors to reach the Aussie quarterfinals for the ninth time.

The 18-year-old, coached by Melanie Molitor, mother of Martina Hingis, proved to be a huge obstacle for the Russian, who eventually edged it 7-5, 7-5 in two hours, five minutes on Rod Laver Arena.

Kei Nishikori had some trouble with his wrist, taking a medical timeout and losing the next set before recovering to reach the fourth round at the Australian Open with a 7-5, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 win Friday over No. 26-seeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

From there, both women dug themselves out of trouble in their respective games, resulting in a streak of holds until the end of the set.

When a fan yelled out during Djokovic’s post-match interview on court, “no more drop shots”, the Serb replied: “I hate to say that but you are absolutely right”.

The 21-time grand slam champion will face another Russian in the next round, with Margarita Gasparyan standing in the way of Williams and a sixth successive major quarter-final.

Sharapova will face teenager Belinda Bencic in the fourth round after the Swiss overcame Katerina Bondarenko 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – Serena Williams is convinced that a loss makes her a better player.

Maria Sharapova admits she took her foot off the gas as the Russian survived a scare to beat American Lauren Davis at the Australian Open.

As Williams chases Steffi Graf’s Grand Slam record of 22, she also played in front of Margaret Court on Sunday; Court won a total of 24.

“It’ll be a good match, she played a good game today”.

Sharapova beat Bencic 7-5, 7-5.

“My mother opened up the world to me culturally, educationally”.

Williams has won 17 straight matches against Sharapova, including last year’s Australian Open final. The second set saw a major dip in her first serve percentage which put a lot of pressure on her second serve.

Sharapova was forced to go for a break to gain the ascendency over her younger opponent, hitting an astounding 21 aces and 58 winners.

But Tsonga lost his serve five times in the match and only managed to break Nishikori once.