Sharapova into 3rd round of Aussie Open

With five, Djokovic has already won more Australian titles than any other man in the Open era.

Serena Williams has dismissed any hint of match-fixing in women’s tennis after surviving a tough early test to safely progress to the second round of the Australian Open at Melbourne Park.

The BBC and Buzzfeed News published reports Monday alleging match-fixing had gone unchecked in tennis. That approach didn’t reach him directly, he said, and was rejected immediately. He gives even the second-round matches a sense of occasion. I’ve lost that match.

“She was definitely a tricky opponent but it was a good match for me to play someone like that”.

“It’s great. It was an hour and 43 minutes and I didn’t feel it at all”, said the top seed.

“I didn’t really settle”.

Djokovic lost to Santoro 6-3, 6-2 in the second round of the Paris Masters indoor tournament in October 2007.

Tournament officials said play would not start on those courts until at least 11:30 a.m. Ball boys and girls were sponging the courts off.

Roger Federer says his 6-year-old twin daughters, Myla and Charlene, have started taking tennis lessons, but the sport’s great ambassador doesn’t necessarily hope they follow in his footsteps someday.

The four-time Australian Open champion, playing his 65th consecutive major, advanced 6-3, 7-5, 6-1 over Alexandr Dolgopolov.

The upset results took some focus off the match-fixing allegations that have overshadowed the first two days of the season’s first major.

Williams was nearly bageled in the second set by a relentless Konta, who forced the seven-time Grand Slam victor across the court, but managed a mini-fight back before falling after one hour and 19 minutes. “But there’s always a danger, you know”.

Aljaz Bedene, Britain’s number two who has switched nationality from Slovenia, lost 6-3 6-4 7-6 (7/3) to America’s Steve Johnson while qualifier Dan Evans was also beaten in straight sets, defeated 6-1 6-0 6-4 to Feliciano Lopez, the eighth seed from Spain.

She closed with an ace, her seventh, finishing in precisely an hour.

Federer will next play Grigor Dimitrov, who has a style that has been compared with Federer’s, after the No. 27-seeded player beat Marco Trungelliti 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.

The six-time and defending champion beat No. 90-ranked Hsieh Su-Wei 6-1, 6-2 on Wednesday at Rod Laver Arena, an all-time record 79th main draw match at the Australian Open. “I needed that”, said Williams, who made her Grand Slam debut in Melbourne in 1998.

Trying to move on from the Vinci shocker, Williams was clearly bored by the time the fourth question came around.

“When I’m playing, and I can only answer for me, I play very hard and every player I play seems to play hard”, the 21-time grand slam champion said after her 6-4 7-5 win over Italian Camila Giorgi.