Venus Williams reaches quarterfinals at Australian Open

MELBOURNE, Australia — Venus Williams has returned to the quarterfinals for the ninth time at the Australian Open, where she reached the same round on debut in 1998.

The 36-year-old, seven-time major winner had a 6-3, 7-5 fourth-round win Sunday over No. 181-ranked Mona Barthel, who won three matches in qualifying and then beat two Australian wild cards and Olympic gold medalist Monica Puig in the first three rounds.

Williams has advanced without dropping a set, finding her rhythm quickly after pulling out of a tournament in Auckland and withdrawing from the doubles before the first round at the Australian Open because of an elbow problem.

“It was just not ideal to start the year like this, and it was a ton of anxiety, to be honest,” Williams said of her preparation. “But really, at the end of the day, it’s about walking to the net, shaking hands as the winner.

“This is where you want to be … but this is not the end-all for me. This is not the end goal.”

Williams will next play No. 24-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who beat No. 8 Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-3 in the opening match of Day Seven at Rod Laver Arena.

Pavlyuchenkova’s win over fellow Russian Kuznetsova left Williams as the only Grand Slam winner left in that quarter of the draw.

Williams has a 3-2 edge in career meetings with Pavlyuchenkova, including wins in the last two matches.

But she hasn’t advanced beyond the quarterfinal round at Melbourne Park since her loss to younger sister, Serena, in the 2003 final. Against Barthel, she won 90 percent of points when she got her first serve into play, hit 31 winners and fired four aces while not serving any double-faults.

Barthel was the lowest-ranked player to reach the fourth round of the women’s draw here since 2010, although she has a career-high ranking of 23 and was consistently top 50 before an illness last year caused her slide down the rankings.

“I know what it’s like to be down on my luck,” Williams said. “We’ve played a couple of tough matches before. Today I expected to have some competition.”

Defending champion and No. 1-ranked Angelique Kerber was playing CoCo Vandeweghe in the last night match.

It’s a lot more crowded on the top quarter of the men’s draw, which features matches later Sunday involving top-ranked Andy Murray against Mischa Zverev and Roger Federer against Kei Nishikori.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Djokovic sees off Federer fight-back to reach Australian Open final

Top seed Novak Djokovic saw off a thrilling fight-back by his great rival Roger Federer to reach his sixth Australian Open final and fifth consecutive Grand Slam title match on Thursday.

The Serbian world number one downed third seed Federer 6-1, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in two hours, 19 minutes and will face either Andy Murray or Milos Raonic in Sunday’s final.

It was the 45th meeting between the two greats with Djokovic now edging ahead of Federer 23-22 in their head-to-head duels.

The amazing Serb continued his recent domination over the 17-time Grand Slam champion and on Sunday, he will become the first man in the Open era to contest six Australian Open finals.

“I played an unbelievable first two sets but that is what is necessary against Roger as he has been playing at a very high level in this tournament,” Djokovic said.

“I knew he was going to be aggressive and mix up the pace and try to come to the net, but I came out with the right intensity with great concentration and I executed everything perfect.

“But it was a battle in the end.”

It will also be Djokovic’s 19th Grand Slam final overall and he moves into equal-third place with Ivan Lendl on the all-time list of most appearances in major finals, which is headed by Federer.

The 10-time Grand Slam champion was in sensational form in the opening two sets, carving up Federer in their 15th Grand Slam encounter with his fabulous groundstrokes for the loss of only three games in just 54 breathless minutes.

He broke Federer’s first service to 15 and then held his serve to lead 3-0, winning 12 of the first 14 points.

The Swiss third seed was broken again in the sixth game, netting a forehand with Djokovic in full cry.

Djokovic’s 6-1 first set was his easiest opening-set win over Federer. He won 24 points to 11, with the rushed Swiss making 12 unforced errors.

Federer was broken to love in the third game in a similar start to the second set, with the world number one able to do no wrong. He broke again in the fifth game and made it two sets to love with less than an hour gone.

Four-time winner Federer probed for a way back in, with the Australian crowd urging him on, and he broke Djokovic for the first time in the sixth game of the third set.

The Swiss was finally putting pressure on Djokovic and he claimed the third set on his third set point, to a thunderous roar on Rod Laver Arena.

But both players had to cool their heels as play was delayed to enable the stadium roof to be closed ahead of expected rain, making for indoor playing conditions.

Djokovic broke Federer for a fifth time in the match in a sensational eighth game of the fourth set, featuring a forehand return winner for the break, and he safely served out for the match in the following game.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Novak Djokovic beats Andy Murray in 4 sets to win his 5th Australian Open title

MELBOURNE, Atustralia — Novak Djokovic won his fifth Australian Open title and extended Andy Murray’s misery at Melbourne Park by beating the Scotsman 7-6 (5), 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-0 in the final Sunday.

Djokovic broke open a close match with a service break in the eighth game of the third set, winning four straight points. When he took a 4-0 lead in the final set, he smacked his fist hard against his chest in celebration.

Murray has now been runner-up four times here, losing twice previously to Djokovic in 2011 and 2013 and to Roger Federer in 2010.

Djokovic is a perfect 5-for-5 in Australian Open finals.

The second set was delayed for about five minutes after the seventh game when a court invader protesting Australia’s refugee policies was removed by security.

source: sports.inquirer.net