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Serena sails through to next round
(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-01-19 07:06
MELBOURNE, Australia: Serena Williams confounded her critics with a
dominating display in the Australian Open yesterday, but world No 1 Lindsay
Davenport wobbled before booking her third round berth.
Maria Sharapova of
Russia hits a return against Ashley Harkleroad of the U.S. during the
Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne January 18, 2006.
[Reuters] | Among the men, No 2 seed Andy Roddick neared his best form to dispose of
South African Wesley Moodie in straight sets while fourth seed David Nalbandian,
seventh seed Ivan Ljubicic and eighth seed Gaston Gaudio also progressed.
Women's fourth seed Maria Sharapova, sixth seed Nadia Petrova and former
champion Justine Henin-Hardenne also safely negotiated the second round.
Williams, the defending champion, has looked out of shape and out of form in
the lead up to the tournament but put in a determined performance against
Camille Pin of France, winning 6-3, 6-1 in just 49 minutes.
Many had expected she would struggle in the Melbourne Park heat after
enduring jibes about her fitness heading into the first Grand Slam of the year,
but she ominously marched on.
"I'm feeling pretty good right now, I'm feeling ready," warned the two-time
Australian Open champion, seeded 13, who will next play 17th seed Daniela
Hantuchova of the Slovak Republic.
The winner of that match is scheduled to meet Sharapova, who battled blisters
on her left foot to down feisty American qualifier Ashley Harkleroad 6-1, 7-5.
"It was good, I haven't had these kind of matches in a while," said the
Russian starlet.
"It's been nearly two months already since I had a bit of competition so it's
good to get that in early rounds and push yourself a little bit more."
Top seed Davenport, who could meet either Sharapova or Williams in the
semi-finals, initially struggled to assert control in her match against unseeded
Croatian Karolina Sprem.
She was taken to a first set tie-break but came back to
eventually win 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 and keep alive her hopes of repeating her 2000
tournament win here.
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