FORMER WORLD NUMBER one Serena Williams continued her progress at the Australian Open on Saturday, taking just under an hour to dispose of the challenge of Hungarian Greta Arm in straight sets.
The American was so dominant in her 6-1 6-1 third-round win that there’s probably only one shot she’ll remember. At 5-0 and a point from winning the first set, Williams lined up in the ideal position for overhead but then completely shanked it, spraying the ball wide. She screamed and put a hand over her face.
The 92nd-ranked Arn saved another set point before holding serve for the first time. Williams responded by winning the next five games before Arn held again. The match ended in 59 minutes Saturday, on consecutive double-faults by the Hungarian.
“I’m nowhere near where I want to be,” Williams said, who has won her last 17 matches at Melbourne Park. “I’m just trying to play through it. A little rusty — just trying to play through my rust.”
Next up she faces Ekaterina Makarova, who beat fellow Russian and seventh-seeded Vera Zvonareva earlier in the day.
Two Wimbledon winners — Petra Kvitova and Maria Sharapova — also advanced, but another top 10 player – along with Zvonareva – is out .The latter was beaten 7-6 6-1 by Makerova, while ninth seed Marion Bartoli lost 6-3 6-3 to Zheng Jie of China,.
Fourth-seeded Sharapova routed Germany’s Angelique Kerber 6-1 6-2 to continue her fantastic start to the tournament. The 2008 Australian champion has only dropped five games in three rounds and next plays number 14 seed Sabine Lisicki, who beat two-time major winner Svetlana Kuznetsova 2-6 6-4 6-2.
Sharapova and Petra Kvitova are among the four women that can claim the number one ranking at the end of the tournament. The pair could play each other in the semifinals, although Kvitova insisted she hasn’t looked that far ahead. “I don’t know who lost and who win,” the Wimbledon champion said. “No, really, for me doesn’t care.”
In the men’s draw, defending champion Novak Djokovic ensured Nicolas Mahut had a 30th birthday he won’t quickly forget – routing him 6-0 6-1 6-1 in just over an hour. Mahut was slowed by a left leg injury, but continued the match because the previous matches on Rod Laver Arena were over so quickly.
Djokovic, who has lost just ten games in his three matches so far, commended his opponent: “I wish him happy birthday and hopefully tonight he can enjoy it.”
“I always played well in Australia. This is the only Grand Slam I won twice. The conditions are great. They’re very suitable to my style of the game, day and night. I’m really looking forward to next week.”
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who lost the 2008 final to Djokovic, beat Frederico Gil of Portugal 6-2 6-2 6-2. Like the Serb, Andy Murray was also up against a French opponent and had no trouble advancing in straight sets, (6-4 6-2 6-0) over Michael Llodra.
In all six Frenchmen reached the third round, but only two of them advanced. Tsonga wasted hardly any time becoming the first of them to move into the round of 16, while Richard Gasquet knocked out ninth seed Janko Tipsarevic 6-3 6-3 6-1.
Gasquet will now face fifth-seeded David Ferrer, who lost the first four games against Juan Ignacio Chela before recovering to win 7-5 6-2 6-1.
In the biggest upset of the day, Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan, ranked 92 in the world, held off an ailing Gael Monfils 6-2 7-5 5-7 1-6 6-4.
