Kerber stands out after easy victory
MELBOURNE, Australia — Angelique Kerber is on her own in an elite club at the Australian Open.
The 2016 champion routed Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-3 in a third-round win that showcased her credentials as a title contender and ensured she’ll be the only Grand Slam champion still playing in the second week in the women’s draw.
Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic were almost as ruthless in their straightsets wins Saturday night, which is hardly surprising for two players with a combined 31 Grand Slam titles. As well, it was Federer’s 90th match win at Melbourne Park.
Sharapova was back at the Australian Open for the first time since 2016, when a failed doping test led to a 15-month ban from tennis.
After two comfortable wins the five-time major winner was growing in confidence, but she had no answers for Kerber, who is on a 12-match winning streak.
“Of course is quite a big match. I mean, Maria is a champion. She’s always dangerous, especially at the Grand Slams,” Kerber said. “I was really trying to not think about everything around, about against who I’m playing.”
Kerber’s next match is against Hsieh Su-wei.
Six-time Australian Open champion and No. 14 seed Djokovic continued his comeback from six months out with an injured right elbow, beating No. 21 Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-2, 6-3, 6-3.
No. 2 Federer moved on with a 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 win over No. 29 Richard Gasquet.
“Expectations are different this year,” Federer said. “I’m coming in very fit, very well equipped knowing five sets is not an issue. Don’t know if (winning) is going to happen this year, but so far, so good.”
Tomas Berdych beat 2009 U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro in straight sets and fifthseeded Dominic Thiem beat Adrian Mannarino to set up a match against Tennys Sandgren.
Djokovic will next face Hyeon Chung. Chung beat fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev 5-7, 7-6 (3), 2-6, 6-3, 6-0. At Melbourne Park Men’s Singles Third Round Hyeon Chung, Republic of Korea, d. #4 Alexander Zverev, Germany, 5-7, 7-6 (3), 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 #5 Dominic Thiem, Austria, d. #26 Adrian Mannarino, France, 6-4, 6-2, 7-5 #19 Tomas Berdych, Czech Republic, d. #12 Juan Martin Del Potro, Argentina, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 #14 Novak Djokovic, Serbia, d. #21 Albert Ramos-Vinolas, Spain, 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 #25 Fabio Fognini, Italy, d. Julien Benneteau, France, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 #2 Roger Federer, Switzerland, d. #29 Richard Gasquet, France, 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 Tennys Sandgren, United States, d. Maximilian Marterer, Germany, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (5) Marton Fucsovics, Hungary, d. Nicolas Kicker, Argentina, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 Women’s Singles Third Round #1 Simona Halep, Romania, d. Lauren Davis, United States, 4-6, 6-4, 15-13 #6 Karolina Pliskova, Czech Republic, d. #29 Lucie Safarova, Czech Republic, 7-6 (6), 7-5 #8 Caroline Garcia, France, d. Aliaksandra Sasnovich, Belarus, 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 #17 Madison Keys, United States, d. Ana Bogdan, Romania, 6-3, 6-4 Naomi Osaka, Japan, d. #18 Ashleigh Barty, Australia, 6-4, 6-2. #20 Barbora Strycova, Czech Republic, d. Bernarda Pera, United States, 6-2, 6-2 #21 Angelique Kerber, Germany, d. Maria Sharapova, Russia, 6-1, 6-3 Su-Wei Hsieh, Taiwan, d. #26 Agnieszka Radwanska, Poland, 6-2, 7-5 Men’s Doubles Second Round #1 Lukasz Kubot, Poland and Marcelo Melo, Brazil, d.
Luke Saville, Australia and Max Purcell, Australia, 6-3, 7-6 (2) Lleyton Hewitt, Australia and Sam Groth, Australia, d. #3 Horia Tecau, Romania and Jean-Julien Rojer, Netherlands, 7-6 (2), 4-6, 7-5 Hans Podlipnik, Chile and Andrei Vasilevski, Belarus, d. #4 Nicolas Mahut, France and Pierre Hughes Herbert, France, 7-6 (1), 5-7, 7-6 (6) Leander Paes, India and Purav Raja, India, d. #5 Bruno Soares, Brazil and Jamie Murray, Britain, 7-6 (3), 5-7, 7-6 (6) Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Spain and Pablo Carreno-Busta, Spain, d. Scott Lipsky, United States and David Marrero Santana, Spain, 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 #15 Aisam-Ul-Hag Qureshi, Pakistan and Marcin Matkowski, Poland, d. Robert Lindstedt, Sweden and Franko Skugor, Croatia, 7-6 (4), 6-4 Dominic Inglot, Britain and Marcus Daniell, New Zealand, d. Benoit Paire, France and Hugo Nys, France, 6-4, 6-2 Fabrice Martin, France and Jeremy Chardy, France, d.
Matt Reid, Australia and Nick Kyrgios, Australia, Women’s Doubles Second Round Vania King, United States and Jennifer Brady, United States, d. #3 Casey Dellacqua, Australia and Ashleigh Barty, Australia, 6-4, 6-2 #5 Kristina Mladenovic, France and Timea Babos, Hungary, d. Arantxa Parra Santonja, Spain and Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino, Spain, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 #11 Shuko Aoyama, Japan and Zhaoxuan Yang, China, d. Mona Barthel, Germany and Carina Witthoeft, Germany, 6-1, 7-5 #13 Kveta Peschke, Czech Republic and Nicole Melichar, United States, d. Madison Brengle, United States and Monica Puig, Puerto Rico, 6-2, 6-2 Sorana Cirstea, Romania and Beatriz Haddad Maia, Brazil, d.
#15 Abigail Spears, United States and Alicja Rosolska, Poland, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 Viktorija Golubic, Switzerland and Nina Stojanovic, Serbia, d. Katerina Bondarenko, Ukraine and Aleksandra Krunic, Serbia, 7-6 (0), 6-2 Anastassia Rodionova, Australia and Nadiia Kichenok, Ukraine, d. Kristyna Pliskova, Czech Republic and Donna Vekic, Croatia, 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (2) Barbora Krejcikova, Czech Republic and Katerina Siniakova, Czech Republic, d. Zarina Diyas, Kazakhstan and Magda Linette, Poland, 6-4, 6-2 Mixed Doubles First Round Storm Sanders, Australia and Marc Polmans, Australia, d. Robert Farah, Colombia and Anna-Lena Groenefeld, Germany, 7-5, 1-6, 10-4 Edouard Roger-Vasselin, France and Andrea Sestini Hlavackova, Czech Republic, d. Max Mirnyi, Belarus and Shuai Peng, China, 6-4, 6-4 Gabriela Dabrowski, Canada and Mate Pavic, Croatia, d.
Alex Bolt, Australia and Lizette Cabrera, Australia, 6-3, 7-5