Sharapova to face Wozniacki in Melbourne

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA A side-effect of not playing much for Maria Sharapova is the likelihood of having to face highly ranked rivals in the first week of a major.

It doesn’t come much tougher in the third round than a match against the defending champion.

That’s the equation at the Australian Open after Sharapova and Caroline Wozniacki beat Swedish players in straight sets on the same court, technically on different days.

The third-ranked Wozniacki had a 6-1, 6-3 win over Johanna Larsson to finish the day session on Margaret Court Arena before the sun went down. No. 30 Sharapova finished off Rebecca Peterson 6-2, 6-1 a half-hour past midnight, having waited for a five-set men’s match to finish.

“It’ll be a tough one, but I’ve set up the challenge, willing to go out there and take it,” Sharapova told the crowd.

Sharapova leads 6-4 in career head-to-heads.

Meanwhile, American Frances Tiafoe rolled up his white shirt’s right sleeve, flexed his biceps and slapped the muscle five times. Then he pounded his chest and yelled, “Yeah! Let’s go! Let’s go! Come on!”

Tiafoe, 20, stunned two-time Grand Slam finalist and No. 5 seed Kevin Anderson 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-5.

American Taylor Fritz, 21, bounced No. 30 seed Gael Monfils.

Also winning were Marin Cilic, Diego Schwartzman, Thomas Fabbiano, Angelique Kerber and Sloane Stephens.

As for the four Canadians, they were slated to play Wednesday night/thursday morning. Bianca Andreescu was slated to face No. 13 seed Anastasija Sevastova, No. 16 seed Milos Raonic was to battle Stan Wawrinka, No. 25 seed Denis Shapovalov was to play Taro Daniel, while Eugenie Bouchard was to tangle with No. 16 seed Serena Williams.