Williams cruises into 4th round of Open

“I thought I played pretty well in the other matches, though – my first match I thought I gave a great effort, and my second match, under the circumstances, I thought I played pretty well, I thought”. Williams not only played like the world No. 1 that she is, she also played as if she were in a hurry to get to a movie, or perhaps track down a cell phone thief.

“I think it’s just an accumulation of having opportunities to play against such players, really start feeling comfortable on these sorts of stages. I’ve lost that match”. She appeared every bit the favorite on Saturday as well, outgunning Allertova on Hisense Arena. Born in Sydney and fluent in English and Hungarian – the first language of father Gabor – Konta headed to Spain when she was 14 to follow her tennis dream.

The 47th-ranked Konta announced her arrival at the Australian Open by beating No. 8 Venus Williams in the first round, staging one of the first upsets of the tournament.

Makarova, 27, reached the semi-finals at last year’s Australian Open and the quarter-finals in 2012 and 2013, but Konta is in the form of her life.

Johanna Konta moved into the third round of a grand slam for only the second time in her career as the British number one hammered China’s Saisai Zheng at the Australian Open.

She will now face No 21 seed Ekaterina Makarova after the Russian knocked out No 1 seed Karolina Pliskova 6-3 6-2.

“We have seen time and time again that even with injuries players can still be very risky so that’s not a main focus for me”. “She’s so young and she’s headed in the right direction”, she said, adding that she felt it was important for older players to help nurture the younger generation.

Konta said, “It was not easy out there”.

Konta, 24, won 6-2 6-2 at Melbourne Park to match her run to the last 16 at last year’s US Open. She returned with more composure in the final set, making just five unforced errors and breaking Davis three times. “For sure, I will prepare good and just be really excited”.

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. She’s here to play well and win.

Former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic was also embraced as “Aussie Ana” after she became involved with top local golfer Adam Scott.

Instead, with Fed Cup captain Judy Murray watching on, Konta was assertive when the contest was tight, starting in the third game when she had to withstand several deuces on serve but came through unscathed.