Osaka, Barty cruise into third round
Defending champion Naomi Osaka overcame a mid-match wobble to advance to the third round of the Australian Open with a straight-sets win over China’s Zheng Saisai.
The world No 4’s 6-2 6-4 victory on Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne sets up a third-round showdown with American teen sensation Coco Gauff, who fought back to beat Romanian veteran Sorana Cirstea in a thrilling three-set clash, 4-6 6-3 7-5.
After cruising through the first set, Osaka, the third seed was broken twice early in the second, but won the last four games after being down 4-2.
The 2018 US Open champion didn’t have it all her on way, becoming frustrated by hitting a number of balls long in the windy conditions at Melbourne Park.
‘‘I got really fired when she [Zheng] was up 4-2 and people started clapping more . . . for the drama,’’ Osaka said post-match.
‘‘I was complaining over here and almost throwing my racket over there, but it worked out.
‘‘I know I’ve been in this position on this court before, but I really didn’t want to play a third set this time.’’
Normal service resumed with big Australian hope Ashleigh Barty sweeping into the third round in straight sets.
A three-set comeback winner in the opening round, top-seeded Barty needed barely an hour to see off Slovenian world No 48 Polona Hercog 6-1 6-4.
‘‘It’s been another clean match today and very happy to get out of that one,’’ Barty said.
‘‘It was different, end to end. The wind played a factor, particularly with the new balls.
‘‘Polona has the ability to play off the court. It was about making as many balls as I could and, once I got my opportunity, I could take it.’’
Barty next plays in-form Kazakh Elena Rybakina, a winner of this month’s Hobart International, or Belgian qualifier Greet Minnen tomorrow for a place in the last 16.
Osaka and Barty were joined in the third round by women’s seventh seed Petra Kvitova, who beat Spain’s Paula Badosa 7-5 7-5.
The two-time Wimbledon champion – who lost last year’s final to Osaka – saved three set points in the second set before advancing.
Kvitova rallied from 0-40 down in the 10th game of the second set to hold serve and then broke in the next game to regain control of the match.
In the men’s second round, sixth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas got a walkover when his opponent, Philipp Kohlschreiber, pulled out because a muscle strain.
In the men’s doubles first round, New Zealand’s Marcus Daniell and his Austrian partner Philipp Oswald, who were beaten in the doubles final at the ASB Classic in Auckland last week, made an early exit in Melbourne when they were beaten in straight sets 6-4 6-4 by sixth seeds Marcel Granollers, of Spain, and Horacio Zeballos, of Argentina.
It’s been an emotional rollercoaster of a summer for Honey Hireme-Smiler – her first surgery in preparation for a big league season, a Queen’s honour, and getting ready to run her first marathon for her late mum.
Hireme-Smiler has never liked running. In fact, she’s always tried to sidestep it when she’s not on the rugby field.
And yet, the rugby and league megastar is now preparing to run a marathon along the Great Wall of China – including 5164 steep steps.
In May, the Kiwi Ferns captain will tackle one of the world’s most demanding 42km marathons, in the memory of her mum, Caryn.
Hireme-Smiler put her league career aside for three months last year, missing the entire NRLW season with the Warriors so she could be a fulltime carer to her mum, who had a rare and aggressive stomach cancer. Caryn, 62, passed away in September.
‘‘I decided I wanted to do the marathon because Mum walked it at the age of 60,’’ Hireme-Smiler says.
‘‘Back when Mum did it, she asked me if I wanted to come along, and I was like ‘Nah, it’s not really my thing’.
‘‘But now I’d like to do it in her honour, to walk in her footsteps and experience just what she went through. It was one of the biggest challenges she faced in her life.’’
Hireme-Smiler’s training for the Great Wall Marathon has been hindered, though, by her recovery from shoulder surgery she underwent last month. It was the first time in her 31-year sporting career she’s had to go under the knife.
She suffered the injury in 2017, playing international rugby for the Black Ferns.
‘‘That’s why I didn’t go to the Women’s Rugby World Cup that year. When I saw the docs, they said ‘it’s probably best you have surgery’,’’ she says.
‘‘But I disagreed and went off to play at the Rugby League World Cup – and I made it worse. I’ve been managing it with cortisone [injections] and putting the surgery off. And I’ve kept playing, and playing pretty well.’’
Her most recent accomplishment was leading New Zealand to victory in the inaugural Rugby League Nines World Cup in Sydney in October.
When she couldn’t delay it any further, Hireme-Smiler had the operation to reattach tendons which had torn away.
The 38-year-old wants her body to be in the best possible shape for next year’s Rugby League World Cup in England.
‘‘I really want to play through to the World Cup – it will be my fifth one. I probably have even more drive to get out there and play now,’’ she says.
‘‘I always find that in the year before, you do the big grind, so I know it’s going to be a tough year. It’s about proving that, come 2021, I’m ready to go physically.
‘‘I need to push my body to its limits this year, to test it out and be involved in as much rugby league as I can.’’
Advised the recovery from shoulder surgery would take 10-12 weeks, Hireme-Smiler expected to hit the pavement again almost immediately.