Melbourne: Serena Williams stormed past Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard and into the Australian Open women’s singles third round here Thursday. The American won 6-2, 6-2 in 70 minutes, setting up unseeded Ukrainian teenager Dayana Yastremska as the next hurdle in her bid for another Major to equal the mark set by Australian great Margaret Court.
“It wasn’t an easy match tonight (Thursday) as the scoreline suggests. Eugenie’s been to the final of Wimbledon (in 2014) and the semifinals of other Grand Slams,” Serena said.
“So I knew ‘Serena, you’ve got to come out hot, you’ve got to come out firing, she’s a really good player and I haven’t had many matches since last year’.”
The signs looked ominous for Bouchard when she won only one point on her opening service game, then failed to hit a return when it was Serena’s turn to serve. In the first set, Serena broke Bouchard’s serve four times and lost her twice. In the second, Serena lifted her intensity and the result was always there for everyone to see.
Meanwhile, on a day when temperatures soared top seed Simona Halep was forced to dig deep to stay in the tournament while Japanese pair Naomi Osaka and Kei Nishikori survived scares but 2014 champion Stan Wawrinka crashed out.
The World No.1 Romanian staggered through against American Sofia Kenin 6-3, 6-7(5/7), 6-4, but it was far from convincing and her second three-set test in a row.
In another titanic battle, Canadian Milos Raonic ousted Wawrinka in four tightly-contested sets that all went to tie-breaks, while Nishikori was stretched to a draining five sets against Ivo Karlovic before sinking to his knees in relief.
US Open champion and fourth seed Osaka had it much easier, sweeping past Slovenia’s Tamara Zidansek 6-2, 6-4 with the roof closed on Margaret Court Arena after rain interrupted the opening Major of the year.
In contrast, Nishikori needed an energy-sapping 228 minutes to get past big-serving Croat Karlovic 6-3 7-6(8/6) 5-7, 5-7, 7-6(10/7) in humid conditions.
“It was a tough match which could have gone both ways. He almost had it for sure,” said the eighth seed, a three-time quarterfinalist at Melbourne Park.
On Rod Laver Arena, 16th seed Raonic emerged the victor against Wawrinka, a three-time Grand Slam champion who is on the comeback trail from injury. The Swiss, unseeded for the first time since his debut in 2006, fell to the Canadian 6-7(4/7), 7-6 (8/6), 7-6(13/11), 7-6 (7/5).
Despite being seeded six and seven respectively, neither Elina Svitolina or Karolina Pliskova has progressed further than the last eight at the Australian Open.
But self-assured Svitolina is bubbling with confidence after dismantling Viktoria Kuzmova 6-4, 6-1, while Pliskova woke up after losing the first set to race past Madison Brengle 4-6, 6-1, 6-0.
Agencies