MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Top seed Serena Williams made light work of unseeded Taiwanese Hsieh Su-wei to charge into the Australian Open third round with a 6-1 6-2 victory. The world number one, bidding for a 22nd grand slam title to match the great Steffi Graf, cruised through the one-hour romp in glorious sunshine at Rod […]
REUTERS – Victoria Azarenka said she was modelling her improved footwork on Novak Djokovic after beginning her quest for a third Australian Open title with a 6-0 6-0 drubbing of Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck on Tuesday. The Belarusian produced a powerful masterclass to post the first ‘double bagel’ of the tournament, offering more evidence that […]
By Nick Mulvenney MELBOURNE (Reuters) – The more familiar shock of falling seeds added to the ructions caused by allegations of tennis corruption as former champion Rafa Nadal and highly-fancied Simona Halep both departed in the first round of the Australian Open on Tuesday. Nadal arrived at Melbourne Park with high hopes of arresting his […]
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Former Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka believes betting companies can help tennis weed out corruption, playing down concerns over the propensity of gambling brands sponsoring major events. His prospective semi-final opponent in Melbourne Andy Murray, however, accused tennis organisers of hypocrisy as the fall-out from Monday’s allegations of match-fixing in the sport […]
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Disillusioned by her struggles on the tour, the Australian Open could have been Zhang Shuai’s last grand slam appearance but the Chinese qualifier found a reason not to quit on Tuesday when she sent second seed Simona Halep packing. With her parents watching in the crowd for the first time, the 25-year-old […]
REUTERS – Defending women’s champion Serena Williams resumes her pursuit of a seventh Australian Open singles title against Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday, after fifth-seed Maria Sharapova takes on Aliaksandra Sasnovich at the Rod Laver Arena. Williams defeated Italian Camila Giorgi in the first round, dispelling doubts about her troublesome knee which forced her to […]
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – French Open champion Stan Wawrinka shook off a stubborn early challenge from Dmitry Tursunov to advance to the second round of the Australian Open when his Russian opponent retired injured. Wawrinka was leading 7-6(2) 6-3 when Tursunov, who had called the trainer midway through the second set to treat an apparent hip […]
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – An emotional Lleyton Hewitt staved off retirement for at least one more match by beating countryman James Duckworth 7-6(5) 6-2 6-4 to reach the second round of the Australian Open on Tuesday. The hard-bitten 34-year-old, making a record 20th and final Australian Open appearance at his home grand slam, soaked up the […]
