Williams promises not to get crowded
Serena Williams will be part of the weekend action at the Australian Open. Spectators will not.
Williams overcame erratic strokes and two set points to beat Russian Anastasia Potapova 7-6 (5), 6-2 yesterday and advance to the fourth round.
The surprisingly close match entertained a modest crowd in Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, but Victorian state government officials announced fans will be banned for five days beginning today because of a Covid-19 outbreak at a Melbourne hotel, although not a player hotel. The Grand Slam tournament had been the first in a year to allow sizeable crowds.
Williams learned the news about the ban after her match.
“No more fans? Wow. It’s sad,” she said. “Five days? I need to stick around then.”
Williams, 39, is again seeking to tie Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slam titles. Williams won her 23rd at the 2017 Australian Open.
She was eliminated in the third round at Melbourne last year, and appeared destined for the same fate until the 19-year-old Potapova became unnerved.
Serving at 5-4, the young Russian held two set points but double-faulted five times and was broken. Potapova squandered another lead in the tiebreaker, committing unforced errors on the final three points.
The last was perhaps the best of the match, with Williams playing spectacular defence to extend a 21-shot rally that ended when a weary Potapova misfired on a forehand.
Another wild scramble two games later swung the match more Williams’ way direction and had her laughing before the rally ended. She chased down a drop shot at the net, retreated to retrieve a lob, and watched from near the backstop as Potapova smacked an overhead into the net.
“I’ve still got the wheels,” Williams said with a grin. “I wasn’t playing my best. I started playing defence — it kept me in the match.”
Williams won despite losing serve three times and committing 31 unforced errors.
“It was just a weird day. Sometimes these matches are really just about getting through them and forgetting them and moving forward. In the past, I wasn’t able to do that because I was so hard on myself, and it would affect me.”
Seeded 10th, she’ll next face Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, who matched her best Grand Slam showing by advancing to the round of
16, beating American Ann Li 6-3, 6-1. Sabalenka is the only woman among the top 16 seeds who has yet to reach a major quarter-final. Her best effort previously was the fourth round at the 2018 US Open.
She overpowered Li, winning her first two service games at love and then breaking at love. Sabalenka held every serve and pounded 15 forehand winners. Sabalenka, 22, has won 23 of her past 26 matches.
In other women’s third-round play, second seed Simona Halep cruised past Veronika Kudermetova 6-1, 6-3, while third seed Naomi Osaka was similarly untroubled in a 6-3, 6-2 victory over 27th seed Ons Jabeur.
No 14-seeded Garbine Muguruza defeated Zarina Diyas 6-1, 6-1, and No 19 Marketa Vondrousova beat Sorana Cirstea 6-2, 6-4.
In men’s play, eighth seed Diego Schwartzman was eliminated by Aslan Karatsev, a qualifier from Russia ranked 114th who became only the fifth man since 2000 to reach the round of 16 in his Grand Slam debut.
Sixth seed Alexander Zverev thrashed No 32 Adrian Mannarino
6-3, 6-3, 6-1, while seventh seed Milos Raonic saw off Marton Fucsovics 7-6 (2), 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 and No 18 seed Grigor Dimitrov advanced when Pablo Carreno Busta retired trailing 6-0, 1-0.