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.
South Korean giants T1, led by “Faker,” won their fifth League of Legends (LoL) world championship crown in London on Saturday, beating China’s Bilibili Gaming (BLG) in a thrilling final. The teams were locked at 2-2 at a packed O2 arena, but T1 clinched game five to make it back-to-back titles after nearly four hours of tense action. China’s BLG started strongly, taking the first game before T1 struck back to level. The Chinese team pulled ahead again at 2-1 only for their opponents to hit back again and go on to take the decider. Faker, who won the Most
The Major League Baseball World Series trophy is headed to Los Angeles, but the party is extending all the way to Japan. People milled around local train stations yesterday morning in Tokyo as newspaper extras were ready to roll off the presses, proclaiming Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto as world champions along with their Dodgers teammates after a stirring Game 5 victory over the New York Yankees. The 30-year-old is a national hero in Japan whose face adorns billboards and TV adverts all over the country. Ohtani this year became the first player in history to hit 50 home runs and
Amber Glenn overcame a fall and her own doubts to win a maiden Grand Prix figure skating title on Saturday at the Grand Prix de France. The American skater had the lead from Friday’s short program. That and the support of the crowd got her through a tough free skate in which she fell on a triple flip and put a hand onto the ice to steady herself on two other jumps. “I didn’t feel that great out there today, but I really tried, and the audience really got me through that last half when I was doubting myself,” Glenn
WORLD SERIES: ‘The individuals that were involved in that last night was a very small segment of the east Los Angeles community,’ the Los Angeles county sheriff said Rowdy crowds took to the streets of Los Angeles after the LA Dodgers won the Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series, setting a city bus on fire, breaking into stores and lighting fireworks. A dozen arrests were reported by police on Thursday, but officials said that most fans celebrated peacefully. Video showed revelers throwing objects at police in downtown LA as sirens blared and officers told them to leave the area on Wednesday night after the Dodgers defeated the New York Yankees in Game 5 of the MLB World Series at Giants Stadium in New York. Another video showed someone standing atop
RSS