Serbian fourth seed Ana Ivanovic produced an electrifying display to reach the Australian Open third round yesterday as fellow contenders Venus Williams and Svetlana Kuznetsova battled through.
Ivanovic showed no sign of the nerves that have crippled her at crucial points in her career, downing Italy's Tathiana Garbin 6-0, 6-3 and attributing her success to an adoring Melbourne Park crowd.
"Even if I was a little bit nervous, the crowd helped me get over it so much, they were great tonight," she said. "I just played an awesome match, I really hope I can keep at this level and play as long as possible here."
PHOTO: AFP
The 20-year-old froze in the spotlight when she lost the French Open final to Justine Henin last year and said she panicked while trying kill off her opponent in her opening match here on Tuesday.
But the world No. 4, who is being supported in Australia by her Melbourne-based relatives and members of the local expatriate Serb community, said she is working on controlling her jitters.
"I learned something from that first match," she said. "Today I tried to focus more on my game, be a little bit less emotional, just committing more to my shots. I was really happy with the result. And I really hope I can keep this level for the next games."
In contrast to Ivanovic's near-flawless performance, eighth seed Venus Williams and second seed Kuznetsova were content to grind out wins and save their best for the latter stages of the tournament.
Williams struggled to shake off tenacious Frenchwoman Camille Pin 7-5, 6-4 in an mistake-strewn performance that included 44 unforced errors and six double faults.
The Wimbledon champion was not concerned about being below her best so early in her campaign, confident she could call on the skills that have earned her six Grand Slams when she needed them.
"Nothing worries me anymore," she said. "I feel like I know how to play, if I make a few mistakes, I'm not going to freak out. I'm fine, I feel good."
Williams faces India's Sania Mirza in the third round and was looking forward to matching the Hyderabad-based right-hander's aggression.
World No. 2 Kuznetsova was less relaxed than Williams about her sluggish display against Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova.
The Russian started flat-footed and had to claw her way back from behind in both sets to win 7-5 (7/0), 6-2.
"When I was down 5-2, 5-3, I felt I'm just not doing the [right] things. I think I just tried to put more balls in play and tried to make rallies long. She's not very consistent, so I wanted to play with her," she said.
Men's top seed Roger Federer neutralized the quirky skills of "The Magician" in sweeping to his 16th consecutive win at the Australian Open in his quest for a 13th Grand Slam title.
The sublime Swiss countered the wiles of veteran Frenchman Fabrice Santoro, playing in a record 62nd Grand Slam, to cruise into the third round 6-1, 6-2, 6-0 in one hour and 22 minutes.
Santoro can confound his opponents with his sliced forehands and clever use of angles, but he was rendered helpless against the world No. 1.
He even plaintively pointed to the scoreboard at match point as Federer attempted to serve it out.
The victory sets Federer up with a third-round encounter with Serbian Janko Tipsarevic.
Third seed Novak Djokovic outgunned Italian Simone Bolelli with another straight sets demolition job.
It was another impressive effort from the 20-year-old Serb, who is seeded to face off against Federer in the semi-finals.
Other players booking a place in the third round included 13th seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic and Spanish journeyman Juan Carlos Ferrero.
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
Dubbed a “motorway for cyclists” where avid amateurs can chase Tadej Pogacar up mountains teeming with the highest concentration of professional cyclists per square kilometer in the world, Spain’s Costa Blanca has forged a new reputation for itself in the past few years. Long known as the ideal summer destination for those in search of sun, sea and sand, the stretch of coast between Valencia and Alicante now has a winter vocation too. During the season break in December and January, the region experiences an invasion of cyclists. Star names such as three-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe
RSS