Serena Williams is settling right into the BNP Paribas Open, producing a quick, business-like effort in advancing to the fourth round on Sunday, beating Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan 6-2, 6-0 in 53 minutes.
Four-time Indian Wells winner Roger Federer needed 10 more minutes than Williams to dispatch Diego Schwartzman 6-4, 6-2 in the men’s second round.
Federer hit a 196kph ace to set up match point and blasted a forehand winner to end it, leaving him two shy of 50 career wins in the desert.
Photo: EPA
Three-time champion Rafael Nadal could say the same thing, winning 6-4, 6-2 over Igor Sijsling.
Third-seeded Simona Halep needed three sets to beat Varvara Lepchenko 6-1, 3-6, 6-1. Lepchenko had 56 unforced errors to Halep’s 37.
Next up for Williams is Sloane Stephens, who beat two-time major champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-6(4), 1-6, 6-4.
Federer next plays Andreas Seppi in a rematch of the Australian Open, when Seppi stunned Federer in four sets in the third round. Seppi advanced with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Victor Hanescu.
Donald Young led a parade of upsets earlier in the day, with the American beating 31st-seeded Jeremy Chardy 6-4, 6-2.
The highest men’s seed to go down was No. 7 Stanislas Wawrinka, who lost to Robin Haase 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
Eleventh-seeded Grigor Dimitrov nearly followed some of the other seeded players out of the tournament, needing three sets to hold off Nick Kyrgios 7-6(2), 3-6, 7-6(4) over 2 hours.
Kyrgios fell and rolled his ankle in the ninth game of the last set, but managed to break back and had a chance to serve out a victory.
Alexandr Dolgopolov, who made the semi-finals last year, beat No. 29 Santiago Giraldo 6-1, 7-6(4).
Qualifier Michael Berrer advanced when No. 22 Richard Gasquet retired trailing 3-1 in the third set. American Jack Sock outlasted 33rd-seeded Gilles Muller 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(7), saving a match point in the process.
Sixth-seeded Milos Raonic restored order, firing 13 aces and losing just eight points on his serve in defeating Simone Bolelli 6-3, 6-4.
On the women’s side, Heather Watson upset seventh-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4, 6-4, and Elina Svitolina knocked out 10th-seeded Lucie Safarova 7-6(5), 7-5. Eighth-seeded Ekaterina Makarova was beaten by No. 27 Timea Bacsinszky 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.
BUMRAH WATCH: Captain Jasprit Bumrah left the SCG for scans for back spasms and although he returned to the ground, there was no word on if he would play Rishabh Pant’s blistering counterattack yesterday capped a chaotic second day of the fifth and final Test between Australia and India, with 15 wickets falling and the star bowler of the series leaving the Sydney Cricket Ground with an ambulance escort. Yet the Border-Gavaskar trophy still remains very much in the balance as India reached 141-6, holding a 145-run lead over Australia with three days remaining. “Low-scoring games like this, it just heightens the pressure within it, so long way still to go,” Australia coach Andrew McDonald said. “There’s gonna be plenty of cricket, so we’ll see what happens.” Australia were bowled out for
Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan yesterday dumped defending champions Germany out of the United Cup with world No. 2 Alexander Zverev sidelined by an arm injury barely a week away from the Australian Open. The upset in Perth sent the Kazakhs into the semi-finals of the 18-nation tournament. In Sydney, women’s world No. 2 Iga Swiatek led Poland into the last eight by winning a rematch of her 2023 French Open final against Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic. Britain also progressed to the quarter-finals with Katie Boulter’s dominant 6-2, 6-1 victory over Australia’s Olivia Gadecki enough to guarantee they won their group. The US and
HAT-TRICK PREP: World No. 1 Sabalenka clinched her first win of the season, as she aims to become the first woman in 20 years to win three Australian Opens in succession Coco Gauff, Jasmine Paolini and Taylor Fritz yesterday all clocked impressive wins as tennis powerhouses Italy and the US surged into the quarter-finals of the mixed-team United Cup. World No. 3 Gauff swept past Croatia’s Donna Vekic 6-4, 6-2 to avenge a loss at the Paris Olympics, while Fritz took care of Borna Coric 6-3, 6-2 in searing Perth heat. That was enough to put the Americans — last year’s winners — into a last-eight clash with China today, while Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan today are to meet defending champions Germany, led by Alexander Zverev, in the other Perth quarter-final. In Sydney, the in-form
Five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek yesterday beat Elena Rybakina in straight sets to take Poland into the final of the mixed-teams United Cup with victory over Kazakhstan. Last year’s runners-up face the US today for the title in Sydney after they beat the Czech Republic in the other semi-final. “This win makes me really proud,” Swiatek said after seeing off Rybakina 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 to give Poland an unassailable 2-0 lead in the tie. It was a statement of intent from the world number two with the first major of the year to start on Jan. 12. “It is perfect preparation for the
RSS