Sharapova wins after a letdown
The former Australian Open champion defeats American Davis in three sets.
MELBOURNE, Australia — Maria Sharapova played two nearly flawless sets on either side of the one where she struggled against American Lauren Davis in a slight hiccup at the Australian Open.
Sharapova, who won the title here in 2008 and has lost three finals — including last year’s decider to Serena Williams — advanced to the fourth round with a 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-1 on Friday, her 600th tour-level match win.
“Wow. I’ve won 600 matches?” Sharapova asked, responding to a question in an on-court interview. “Is this like a friendly reminder that I’m getting old? Might be.”
The 28-year-old, fivetime major winner is playing her 13th Australian Open since 2003 so she knew what to expect when she lost concentration in the second set despite being up a break and 30-love.
“You know you’re in a Grand Slam environment, third round and against an opponent you haven’t played … that’s fired up and is not going to just give you the match and that’s exactly what happened,” she said. “I am quite happy that I was able to step up in the third set. That was very important.”
The first set was over in 26 minutes, with Sharapova getting two service breaks and not facing a break point herself. She was broken twice in the second, when Davis came back hard and eventually won in the tiebreaker, despite conceding a key point after a 27-shot rally when she volleyed into the net, and covered her face with her hand.
Sharapova took a bathroom break before the third set and returned with more composure, making only five unforced errors and breaking Davis three times.
The fifth-seeded Sharapova will next play No. 12 Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, who won the opening match on Rod Laver Arena, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, against Kateryna Bondarenko.
Japan’s Kei Nishikori had some trouble with his wrist, taking a medical timeout and losing the next set before recovering to reach the fourth round with a 7-5, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over No. 26-seeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
There was a full house on Margaret Court Arena for the match, while matches on uncovered outside courts were delayed because of rain. Seven doubles matches were later postponed.
No. 15 David Goffin of Belgium beat No. 19 Dominic Thiem, 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (2), 7-5 — his first win against a top-20 player at a Grand Slam — to reach the fourth round in Melbourne for the first time.
He faces a tougher proposition next, against Roger Federer or Grigor Dimitrov.