Reuters
Melbourne, Jan 22: Serena Williams sent a warning to the rest of the field that she was still working towards her A-game as she charged into the Australian Open fourth round with a 6-1, 6-1 demolition of Russian teenager Daria Kasatkina here Friday.
The woman, likely to stand in her way of a seventh Australian Open title, Maria Sharapova, however, had to suffer a second set stutter against American Laureen Davis, before winning 6-1, 6-7(5-7), 6-0.
Playing a record 80th main draw match at Melbourne Park against an 18-year-old on her first trip Down Under, Serena was merciless under the lights of Rod Laver Arena, blasting 24 winners and winning all 10 points coming into the net.
“I definitely think I played better today,” Williams told reporters of her 44-minute victory. “Everything I’ve been trying to work on was kind of clicking.”
Kasatkina raised rambunctious cheers from sympathetic fans in the terraces when she prised a game in each set but Serena closed out the match when her frazzled opponent pushed a forehand wide.
Meanwhile fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska, playing through the pain of a leg injury, rode an opening set onslaught to take a place in the last 16 of the Australian Open with a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Monica Puig.
Radwanska, a semifinalist at Melbourne Park in 2014, next faces 21-year-old German Anna-Lena Friedsam, who beat Roberta Vinci 0-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Sharapova will now meet rising Swiss talent Belinda Bencic who beat Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
