Sharapova wins again at Australian Open
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA Maria Sharapova advanced to the third round of the Australian Open, beating Anastasija Sevastova 6-1, 7-6 (4) as the temperatures began to rise at Melbourne Park.
With a forecast high of 39 C, Sharapova appeared to be in a hurry to get off the Rod Laver Arena court, winning the first set in 23 minutes.
In the second set, Sharapova was broken while serving for the match, sending it to the tiebreaker, which she dominated.
Sharapova lost to Sevastova at the U.S. Open last September in her return to Grand Slam tennis.
Meanwhile, former Australian Open semifinalist Johanna Konta was knocked out of the tournament in the second round by American Bernarda Pera 6-4, 7-5.
Pera, ranked No. 123, lost in the final round of qualifying and didn’t get into the main draw until Monday, when Russia’s Margarita Gasparyan withdrew with an injury. The 23-year-old Pera is making her Grand Slam debut.
Later on, top-seeded Simona Halep of Romania was scheduled to play Canadian Eugenie Bouchard, who has fallen on hard times recently, with her ranking dropping to 112. The two haven’t played since 2014, when Bouchard’s only victory in three matches against Halep that year came in the semifinals at Wimbledon. Times have changed, and Bouchard likes her underdog status against Halep.
“It’s always really cool to go up against the best in the world,” she said. “You use it as a measuring stick to see how far off you are. I want to try to play my game and go out there and do some damage ... it’s fun to have no pressure.”
On Wednesday, 18-year-old Canadian Denis Shapovalov led 5-2 in the fifth set before losing his second-round match 3-6, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5 to 32-year-old Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The Frenchman casually hit a between-the-legs shot that kept him in a winning point and generally provided the Margaret Court Arena crowd with three hours and 37 minutes of premium entertainment.