Serena storms into third round at Australian Open

Author of “The Devil Wears Pinstripes” and victor of a Sports Emmy.

She raced to a 4-0 lead with the Belarusian, playing her first Australian Open, struggling to counter her powerful groundstrokes. Maria Sharapova had missed a fair amount of tournaments over recent months as well, though.

“I played two previous tournaments and didn’t have the right results but I have strong belief in the way I want to play”.

Williams had tried to play at the Hopman Cup, but retired during her only match due to the knee worry.

After her fifth first-round loss at a major in the last five years, Venus Williams was in no mood to chat about it. Now she’ll have to pay.

The Spaniard went down 7-6, 4-6, 3-6, 7-6, 6-2 to countryman Fernando Verdasco.

The second day of the 2016 Australian Open is a thing of the past and there were some major upsets in both brackets.

ATP chairman Chris Kermode and Nigel Willerton, head of the Tennis Integrity Unit, represented the four governing bodies of tennis – the ATP, the WTA, the Grand Slam Board and the International Tennis Federation – and responded to allegations that in that last decade 16 players have been repeatedly flagged to the integrity unit. Hibino rallied a bit to win three games though while Sharapova made some errors before finally recovering to win.

“I think it’s time and experience, getting a little older, hopefully a little wiser”, she said on being able to better challenge top-ranked players.

In her off-court time, Sharapova said she’s been working on a biography.

“Well I think 2009 was maybe the only day in my life that I hit 4, 5 hours”, Verdasco said, looking at the clock beside the court to compare it with their semifinal meeting.

Kateryna Bondarenko earned one of her biggest wins since returning from retirement after having a baby in 2013, beating two-time major victor and No. 23-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-1, 7-5. Federer takes on Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia, ranked No. 117, and they’ve also never met. Djokovic has won four of the last five Australian titles and is a flawless 5-0 in finals at Melbourne Park.

No. 13 Vinci beat Irina Falconi 6-2, 6-3 to advance in the opposite quarter of the same half of the draw.

Venus Williams’ opening-round loss to Johanna Konta at the Australian Open was especially disappointing given her resurgent 2015 campaign.

“From my knowledge and information about, you know, the match-fixing or anything similar, there is nothing happening on the top level”.

He may have to meet Grigor Dimitrov, who plays with a style that has been compared with Federer’s, in the third round. “There’s a reason why these players are in the draw”.