Gavrilova stuns Kvitova
Defending champions Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams stormed into the Australian Open third round on Wednesday as tennis authorities came under fire over their efforts to fight match-fixing.
Melbourne : Defending champions Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams stormed into the Australian Open third round on Wednesday as tennis authorities came under fire over their efforts to fight match-fixing.
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.
As a match-fixing controversy continued to reverberate at Melbourne Park, Williams swatted Hsieh Su-Wei 6-1, 6-2 to reach the third round as she seeks a record-equalling 22nd major title.
Williams eased lingering concerns over the state of her injured knee as she obliterated the Taiwanese, even pulling off possibly her first ever round-the-net shot for good measure.
“It's always cool to do something fresh and new. I don't know if I have done that,” said the American world number one, who showed no signs discomfort from her knee. Petra Kvitova became the latest women's top-10 player to fall, joining Simona Halep and Venus Williams on the sidelines when the sixth seeded Czech was shocked 4-6, 4-6-4 by Australian giant-killer Daria Gavrilova.
Federer, who is trying to extend his record number of Grand Slam crowns to 18, then dismantled his 35th-ranked practice partner Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3, 7-5, 6-1.
Later Djokovic was no match for Halys, 19, who had a net cord to thank as he broke the Serb in the third set, which went to a tie-break. In a positive evening for the hosts, the combustible Nick Kyrgios overcame a mix-up with his shorts to beat Pablo Cuevas and set up a showdown with world number six Tomas Berdych.
“Just a bit of a mix-up before the game,” shrugged Kyrgios, who had to change his shorts midway after the pockets on his first pair weren't deep enough to hold balls when he was serving.
Agnieszka Radwanska's sky-high confidence took another leap upwards when she halted Eugenie Bouchard, back in form after suffering concussion at the US Open, 6-4, 6-2.
On court earlier was five-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova, who had little difficulty dispatching 105th-ranked Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-2, 6-1. Japanese seventh seed Kei Nishikori beat his close friend Austin Krajicek 6-3, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 as he pressed his bid for a first Grand Slam title.
