Injuries not an issue for Williams or Sharapova
There were hopes and beliefs from the field that No. 1 Serena Williams and No. 5 Maria Sharapova might be hampered by injuries in the Australian Open, potentially leading to early exits or at least easier matches against them.
So far injuries don’t seem to be affecting either of them. Williams has no issue gtting past Su-Wei Hsieh in two sets 6-1, 6-2. Sharapova easily dismantled Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-1, 6-2. From the early looks of things it seems like a lock that those two world-class players will be meeting in the quarterfinals.
No. 4 Agnieszka disposed of Canadian Genie Bouchard 6-4, 6-3 to advance to the third round, where they will meet Puerto Rican qualifier Monica Puig. She came back to beat Czech qualifier Kristyna Pliskova in a tight contest 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 9-7.
Federer cruising through early
Remember when a year ago people were asking if Roger Federer has lost his tough after shockingly being ousted in the third round by unranked Andreas Seppi? That seems silly now. A great end to the 2015 season has carried over into 2016 and Federer cruised through his second match at the Australian Open and into the third round.
Third-seeded Federer made easy work of Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3, 7-5, 6-1. Federer’s precision when serving the ball was on full display and finished with 25 aces and won 88-percent of his first-sever points. He will play 27th-seed Grigor Dimitrov, who advanced past Marco Trungelliti 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.
Djokovic out-classes young opponent, no upsets for men
Novak Djokovic was completely out of Quentin Halys’ league. The 19-year-old Wild Card from France never won a world tour-level match until his opening round victory over Ivan Dodig. It was a great accomplishment for the former No. 3-ranked junior in the world, but he just isn’t anywhere near the No. 1 player in the world. Djokovic cruised to 6-1, 6-2 victories in the first two sts. The young Freshman battled in the third but eventually fell 7-6 (7-3).
No. 6 Tomas Berdych dominated Bosnia qualifier Mirza Basic in his second round match, winning 6-4, 6-0, 6-3. Berdych has reached the third round for a sixth-straight year. Last year went to the Australian Open semifinals. He will play No. 26 Nick Kyrgios. The Australian advanced past Pablo Cuevas 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 (7-2).
No. 13 Marin Cilic cruised through the first two sets against Albert Ramos-Vinolas before a slight hiccup in the third, but still won in straight-sets 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).
No. 7 Kei Nishikori beat American Austin Krajicek in straight sets 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.
Corey Johns
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