Shining knight Murray spurs maiden title bid
ANDY Murray saw off giant- ki l ler Sam Querrey on Friday as he ramped up his bid for a first Australian Open tit le af ter the shock departure of sixtime champion Novak Djokovic.
On a cool day in Melbourne, the men’s number one and women’s top seed Angelique Kerber both hit a hot patch of form as the final rounds beckoned.
Murray wi l l have watched from the sidelines as second seed Djokovic, his conqueror in four Melbourne finals, suffered a stunning defeat to 117th-ranked Denis Istomin on Thursday.
Querrey also shocked Djokovic at Wimbledon last year but Murray, made a knight in Britain’s New Year honours, never looked like slipping on any banana skins in round three.
Murray put Querrey away 6- 4, 6-2, 6- 4 in just under two hours, winning 77 per cent of points on his first serve and facing only three break points in a clinical display. The Scot also showed no signs of discomfort in his right ankle, after he rolled it painfully during his second-round win over Andrey Rublev.
Next up for Murray is an assignment with Mischa Zverev, the elder brother of highly- rated German teen Alexander who came through in four sets against Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri.
Stan Wawrinka, the 2014 champion, survived a four- set tussle with Viktor Troicki 3- 6, 6- 2, 6- 2, 7- 6 (9/7) and now faces Italy’s Andreas Seppi, who ousted Steve Darcis of Belgium.
Former finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also came through in four sets against Jack Sock.
Swiss marvel Roger Federer sailed past long-time rival Tomas Berdych in straight sets to storm into the fourth round. The 17-time Grand Slam champion, seeded 17th after an injury-hit 2016, downed the 10th- seeded Berdych 6-2, 6- 4, 6- 4, in 90 minutes.
In the women’s draw, Kerber finally got into her stride with a 6- 0, 6- 4 destruction of Kristyna Pliskova, the 58th- ranked twin sister of Czech fifth seed Karolina. The German defending champion was an early loser at both of her warm-up tournaments and was taken to three sets in unconvincing wins in round one and two.
Svetlana Kuznetsova outlasted fellow veteran Jelena Jankovic 6- 4, 5- 7, 9- 7 and will next play fel low Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. — AFP