Australian Open: Serena struggles, but back in quarterfinals
No. 2 seed advances over Strycova despite having an off day
MELBOURNE, Australia — With her serve misfiring and the ball coming back at her from some irregular angles, it was time for Serena Williams to go to Plan B.
Williams knuckled down and just scrapped her way to a 7-5, 6-4 win over No. 16seeded Barbora Strycova on Monday (Australia time) to reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open for the 11th time.
Despite the four service breaks — two in the first four games — and 46 unforced errors, and with the fluky net cord and the offbalance, scrunched-shoulder backhand that bounced flatly and clinched her the first set on her eighth set point, she ground down Strycova.
“It’s good to know I have a Plan B, or Option 2. I wasn’t serving my greatest today, also she was putting a lot of returns in there,” said Williams, who had a firstserve percentage of 45, and made four double-faults. “I feel like it was really good for me to win on probably not my best day, which is always good, because sometimes you rely on one shot and if it goes off, and then, like, what happens now?
“It was really good for me to almost lose that so I know my other game is going pretty good, too.”
That keeps Williams on track in her bid for an Openera record 23rd Grand Slam title. If she gets there, the 35-year-old American will regain the No. 1 ranking as well from Angelique Kerber.
Next up, she’ll face No. 9 Johanna Konta, who beat Ekaterina Makarova for the second straight year in the fourth round.
The 2016 semifinalist was only broken once and broke Makarova four times in the 6-1, 6-4 win.
She’s excited at the prospect of a quarterfinal with Williams, one of her inspirations as a young player.
“She’s one of the few players still playing I watched growing up,” Konta said. “It’s an incredible honor and I can’t wait to share the court with her.”
Kerber, who beat Williams n in the final here last year and then ended the 22time Grand Slam winner’s 186-week streak at No. 1 by winning the U.S. Open, was upset in the fourth round at 12:06 a.m. in a straight-sets loss to CoCo Vandeweghe.
It was Kerber’s first major as top seed and as defending champion. Williams has been there before, and relied on her experience to stay in contention in the bottom of the draw.
“I love pressure. I feel like I deal well with pressure,” said Williams, who has won the Australian Open six times. “Honestly I have nothing to lose. I’ve won enough. … Everything is a bonus for me right now. It’s kind of a little relaxing.”
Kerber’s exit followed a chaotic middle Sunday when both top seeds went out of the tournament — top-ranked and five-time finalist Andy Murray’s was upset by No. 50-ranked Mischa Zverev.
Mike and Bob Bryan n announced on Instagram that they’d be retiring from the Davis Cup team after 14 years. Following their thirdround win in men’s doubles at the Australian Open on Monday, the Stanford products said, “It was time to pass the torch to next generation.”
The 38-year-old twin brothers, who have won 16 Grand Slam titles together, said clinching the 2007 Davis Cup over Russia in Portland, Oregon, was up there with winning the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics as the biggest moments of their careers.
Mirjana Lucic-Baroni n is making another run at the important end of a Grand Slam tournament — for the first time in nearly 20 years — beating U.S. qualifier Jennifer Brady 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the quarterfinals.
Lucic-Baroni made the Wimbledon semifinals in 1999 at the age of 17. Not long after, the Croatian player was out of the sport entirely and was forced to spend years scraping her way back to the majors.
The now-34 Lucic-Baroni came onto the scene in 1997 by winning the first WTA tournament she ever entered at age 15. Months later, she captured the Australian Open doubles title with Martina Hingis.
After her surprising run at Wimbledon, though, her career rapidly spiraled. By 2003, she was forced to stop playing because of financial hardships. She waited 19 years to get her second win at Melbourne Park — and now has three more.
“To work so hard, and sacrifice so much to be here today. Hope nobody is going to pinch me and wake me up — because this is incredible,” she said.