SERENA CRUISES; VENUS, KVITOVA HALTED

A RELAXED Serena Williams was untroubled by Nina Stojanovic yesterday in the Australian Open, as the 23-time Grand Slam champion continued her ominous form at Melbourne Park.

The 39-year-old maintained her unbeaten run since emerging from 14-day quarantine with a 6-3, 6-0 second-round drubbing in 69 minutes.

“l wasn’t thinking as much in the second, as I was in the first,” said Williams, who hit 27 winners. “I’m here to have fun and it’s great to be playing in front of a crowd.”

The 10th seed started with a sizzling backhand winner and maintained a vice-like grip over the Serb, breaking in the opening game of the second set and sealing victory with her sixth ace.

Williams reprised her multi-coloured, one-legged catsuit - a flamboyant outfit inspired by late sprint queen Florence Griffith Joyner, popularly known as ‘Flo-Jo’.

The 10th seed has been in strong form so far as she chases Margaret Court’s record Grand Slam tally of 24.

The seven-time Australian Open champion has been battling shoulder and Achilles niggles but shown no ill-effects on court.

Playing her unparallelled 100th Australian Open match, she had thrashed Laura Siegemund 6-1, 6-1 in the first round and faces Anastasia Potapova of Russia in the third round.

ANDREESCU’S COMEBACK ENDED

Former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu’s emotional comeback from a year-plus injury ended after slumping to defeat against Hsieh Su-wei. The eighth seed was upset by the veteran Taiwanese 6-3, 6-2 in one hour 23 minutes in the second round.

“You need to find a way to get through and the crowd helped me fight,” said 35-year-old Hsieh, who has twice reached the fourth round at Melbourne Park.

The Canadian was coming off a draining firstround victory, in her return after 15 months on the sidelines, where she defeated Mihaela Buzarnescu of Romania in three sets and broke down afterwards in tears.

A weary Andreescu appeared sluggish, however, amid the warm conditions on Rod Laver Arena and the world number 71 pounced to storm out to a 4-0 lead.

KVITOVA STUNNED BY CIRSTEA

Two-time Grand Slam winner Petra Kvitova slumped out after a tough three-sets loss to Sorana Cirstea in the second round.

The ninth seed hit back strongly after losing the first set, but her challenge fell apart as she went out 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 after 44 unforced errors and seven double faults.

“It was impressive... I was not expecting it,” said Romanian Cirstea, who was one of the players that underwent hard quarantine and couldn’t leave her hotel room for 14 days.

“I thought I could beat her and I was confident. I’m really happy with this win.”

Kvitova, the 2019 Australian Open finalist, recovered from a slow start to rediscover her powerful groundstrokes in a dominant second set, but faded on a humid Margaret Court Arena.

VENUS MAKES PAINFUL EXIT

Venus Williams hobbled out after a straight-sets loss to Italian qualifier Sara Errani, departing from her record 21st appearance at Melbourne Park as a disconsolate figure.

The seven-time Grand Slam winner rolled an ankle late in the first set and offered little resistance after that, crashing 6-1, 6-0 in 75 minutes.

“I’m not happy to win like that,” Errani, ranked 134, said. “I’m so sad for her. It isn’t easy playing someone injured.”

Williams, 40, appeared to roll her right ankle mid-point while attempting a volley, down 5-1 in the opening set, screaming in agony and seeking medical attention.

The American had her ankle strapped as she cut a dejected figure, but decided to gamely fight on.

Williams, who also had strapping to her left knee reapplied, was noticeably hampered and could barely exert force on serve as the match petered out.

An amazing 27 years after making her professional debut, two-time Australian Open finalist Williams had beaten Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium in the first round.

Errani next plays Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan who upset eighth seed Bianca Andreescu.

OSAKA POWERS PAST GARCIA

Naomi Osaka marched confidently into the third round of the Australian Open on Wednesday, overpowering Caroline Garcia 6-2 6-3 with a rock-solid performance at the Rod Laver Arena.

The Japanese third seed fired six aces at her French opponent in the first set and four in the second. Garcia was unable to muster up a single break point over the contest.

The 2019 Australian Open champion said she had started the match wary of the threat posed by Garcia, a former world No 4 now ranked 43rd.

“I needed to stay focused the whole match,” said Osaka.

“She’s a tricky player and you never know what she’s going to come up with. Yes, just staying within myself.”

“Thank you for coming out,” Osaka said to the crowd after the match.

“It really means a lot to us.”

Osaka’s post-match comments were the usual mix of pleasantries and personal - “I’m just staying in my room watching Netflix”- but there was nothing whimsical about her performance.

The 23-year-old found the corners with her shots as she fired 23 winners over the one-hour contest, wrapping up the victory with an emphatic 181 km per hour (121 mph) ace.

The US Open champion, whose last defeat in a WTA tournament was to Coco Gauff in the third round at Melbourne Park last year, will next face Ons Jabeur.

“She’s really funny and nice and I think the match I play against her will be really difficult, but I’m looking forward to it,” she smiled.

HALEP SURVIVES HUGE SCARE

Romanian second seed Simona Halep won five consecutive games to come back from the brink to defeat local hope Ajla Tomljanovic 4-6 6-4 7-5 in an error-strewn match to advance to the third round of the Australian Open on Wednesday.

Twice Grand Slam winner Halep came into the match with a 3-0 career record against the 27-yearold Australian, ranked 72nd, but found it difficult to pave a way past Tomljanovic’s all-or-nothing approach in front of a boisterous Melbourne Court Arena.

After sharing the honours in the first two sets, Tomljanovic surged ahead with a break and a 5-2 lead in the decider only for former world No 1 Halep to stage a stunning comeback by winning the next five games.

The match saw the players commit over 90 unforced errors and the 29-year-old Romanian put an end to the contest by converting her second match point with a forehand winner. — SuperSport.