Australian Open: Venus cruises into third round.
She cruises into third round
Melbourne, Australia — It was inevitable after such an energetic performance in her second-round win over Stefanie Voegele at the Australian Open that Venus Williams would get asked about transcending the generations in tennis.
The 36-year-old, seven-time major winner played the first of her record 73 Grand Slam tournaments at the French Open in 1997. Back then, she got to play against the likes of Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova.
Against the 26-yearold Voegele at the Australian Open on Wednesday, Williams mixed up her game, clearly not intent on relying only on the kind of power game that helped her make a mark on the sport. She won, 6-3, 6-2, hitting 24 winners.
“I have to talk about this every interview,” Williams said in reply to what has become a regular post-match question to the oldest player in the women’s draw here. “I’ve played some of the greats.
“It’s an honor and privilege to start that young,” she added, laughing, “and play this old.”
She is playing her 17th Australian Open but has never won the title. Her best run was to the final in 2003, when she lost to her younger sister, Serena. The siblings were pairing up for a firstround doubles match later Wednesday, and second-seeded Serena is on the other half of the singles draw.
There was drama in the men’s tournament.
As Ivo Karlovic and Horacio Zeballos struggled deep into the fifth set, fans rushed to distant Court 19 to watch as a record unfolded.
The stands completely packed, some spectators stood on tables and chairs and even balanced on the fence of a neighboring court to try to get a view. Others lay on their stomachs and peeked beneath the black windscreen lining the fence, using their phones to record it.
After 5 hours 15 minutes, Zeballos finally cracked in the 84th game. Chasing down a lob on Karlovic’s second match point, he mis-hit a forehand and it floated long, giving Karlovic an epic, come-from-behind victory, 6-7 (6), 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 22-20.
The final set alone took 2 hours 37 minutes. And though most points were short, the match didn’t lack for some quality — the players combined for 237 winners to 94 unforced errors.
The scoreline didn’t come close to the famous marathon match between John Isner and Nicholas Mahut at Wimbledon in 2010, which Isner finally won, 70-68, in the fifth set after more than 11 hours.
But Karlovic and Zeballos did set a couple records.
The total of 84 games broke the previous Australian Open mark of 83 set by Andy Roddick and Younes El Aynaoui in 2003, a match Roddick won, 21-19, in the fifth. Karlovic’s 75 aces also smashed the previous record of 51 for a single match, set by Joachim Johansson against Andre Agassi in 2005.