Venus Williams fined for media snub after Johanna Konta defeat

“It was an incredible moment to be in the final of this event again”, said Sharapova, who played her first-round match on Margaret Court Arena, one of three e two other covered stadiums at Melbourne Park. Kermode said tennis authorities “absolutely reject any suggestion that evidence of match-fixing has been suppressed for any reason, or isn’t being investigated”.

After his second-round win, he was asked about an Italian newspaper report casting doubt over his performance in a match against Fabrice Santoro in Paris in 2007.

“I think physically I was really good on the court”, the Serbian top seed said of his performance so far. “I think it’s just absurd”, Djokovic said. He was level for a couple of minutes, before Djokovic went on a roll to win the next seven games. I thought, ‘You’re down, keep playing.

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

Djokovic has said he didn’t believe any elite players were involved.

Serena Williams and Roger Federer stamped their class on the Australian Open on Wednesday as a top anti-corruption official criticised tennis’s efforts against match-fixing following a major controversy this week.

Serena Williams has swiftly moved through to the third round at Melbourne Park with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei in exactly one hour. It was his 299th match win at a major. “I mean, it’s the least I expect to be in the third round of a Slam, obviously, so I’m pumped up, playing well, feeling good”. “As an athlete, I do everything I can to be not only great, but, you know, historic”.

While Williams did bring the gap back to 5-4, Konta held her composure and took the opening set with an ace.

In the men’s draw, No. 2-seeded Andy Murray had little trouble advancing to the second round, beating sometime practice partner Alexander Zverev, 6-1, 6-2, 6-3.

Konta, who was born in Sydney and represented Australia until 2012, returned to the same court where she practised as a youngster to beat Williams 6-4 6-2.

“It all started here”. It was the eighth time the American has lost in the first round of a Grand Slam tournament and the third time in Australia, where she reached the quarterfinals in her first appearance in 1998 and lost the final to her youngest sister, Serena, in 2003. “Today I just didn’t get my game out but it’s one day out of however many I have been away from home, training every day and practising well”.

Milos Raonic followed up his victory at the Brisbane International with a clinical, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 first-round win over Lucas Pouille on the second day of the season’s first major.

Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova beat Thai qualifier Luksika Kumkhum, avenging her upset loss in the first round here in 2014, and No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska beat Christina McHale 6-2, 6-3.

Former No.1-ranked Caroline Wozniacki lost 1-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4 to Yulia Putintseva, continuing a downward spiral at Melbourne Park that has resulted in her exiting one round earlier each year since she reached the 2011 semifinals.