Professional Tennis
Venus Williams continues to play some of the best tennis of her entire career to begin the 2015 season as the 18th seeded American outlasted sixth-seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwanska 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 on Monday to move into the Australian Open quarterfinals. Venus was the more aggressive player all match long. She fired 43 winners compared…
Kei Nishikori powered his way into the Australian Open quarterfinals, defeating ninth-seeded David Ferrer 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 on Monday. The fifth-seeded Nishikori notched six break points, displaying his outstanding baseline defense, to seize control of each set and reach the final eight in Melbourne. “I’m really new to be number five, so I’m still not…
After being on the brink of elimination in her second-round match on Wednesday, second-seeded Maria Sharapova avoided that situation on Friday as the Russian cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 victory over 31st seeded Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan. “I think I rebounded well,” said Sharapova. “I had a good hit yesterday. I thought about what I…
Tomas Berdych and Andy Murray continued their excellent starts to the Australian Open, as each rolled in straight sets to advance to the fourth round on Friday. The sixth-seeded Murray won his third consecutive straight-set match in Melbourne, cruising past Portugal’s Joao Sousa 6-1, 6-1, 7-5 to push into the fourth-round. Murray ripped 39 winners…
Italian Andreas Seppi entered Friday’s third-round match with Roger Federer with an 0-10 record against the world number two from Switzerland. He changed that and caused the biggest upset of the 2015 Australian Open so far, ousting Federer 6-4, 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-6(5) to move into the fourth-round. “To beat Roger first time, especially in a…
In one of the most intriguing second-round matches in recent Grand Slam history, it was the unseeded Victoria Azarenka who came out on top, defeating the eighth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the Australian Open’s third round. The two-time Australian Open champion broke Wozniacki in the match’s opening game and broke again in…
John Isner fired 28 aces and was nearly automatic (91 percent) on his first serve points to move past Austria’s Andreas Haider-Maurer 6-4, 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-4 and advance into the third round of the Australian Open on Thursday. In a match that did not see many return points won, Isner was just a bit better…
World number one Novak Djokovic won the first nine games of his second-round match on Thursday on his way to a clean 6-0, 6-1, 6-4 victory over Russian Andrey Kuznetsov to advance at the Australian Open in Melbourne. The only slip up in the match for the Serbian was falling behind 0-2 to begin the…
Rafael Nadal won the final two sets to narrowly escape a second-round contest with Tim Smyczek, beating the American qualifier 6-2, 3-6, 6-7(2), 6-3, 7-5 to advance into the third round of the Australian Open. Nadal got off to a quick start as he broke Smyczek in the fourth and eighth games to win the…
In one of the best matches of the tournament in either draw thus far, second-seeded Russian Maria Sharapova saved three match points to escape with a 6-1, 4-6, 7-5 victory over fellow Russian Alexandra Panova at the Australian Open. Sharapova got all she could handle from the 25-year-old qualifier, and seemed to be on the…