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BSP-26
TENNIS-AUS-OPEN,5THLEAD
Serena in charge as Halep and Raonic battle through Open epics
MELBOURNE, Jan 17, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Serena Williams stepped up her drive
for a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam Thursday by swatting aside Eugenie
Bouchard, but top seed Simona Halep had to dig deep to stay in the Australian
Open on a day of epic battles.
The American great followed up her first round 49-minute romp by spending
just 70 minutes on Rod Laver Arena to dispose of the Canadian 6-2, 6-2.
“It wasn’t an easy match tonight,” said the 37-year-old.
“So I knew ‘Serena, you’ve got to come out hot, you’ve got to come out
firing, she’s a really good player and I haven’t had many matches since last
year’.”
Williams is bidding to match Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slam
crowns, and win an eighth in Australia, on her first return to Melbourne Park
since lifting the trophy in 2017 while pregnant.
Six-time Melbourne Park winner Novak Djokovic is also looking to make
history by winning a seventh title and takes on Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who he
beat in the 2008 final, in a night match.
In contrast to Williams, world number one Halep staggered through against
American Sofia Kenin 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 6-4 — her second three-set test in a
row.
“I have no idea how I won this tonight, it’s so tough to explain what
happened on court,” said the French Open champion, who now meets Venus
Williams after the 38-year-old rolled back the years to beat France’s Alize
Cornet.
In another titanic battle, Canadian Milos Raonic ousted 2014 champion Stan
Wawrinka in four tightly-contested sets that all went to tie-breaks, while
eighth seed Kei Nishikori was stretched to a draining five sets against Ivo
Karlovic.
Seventh seed Dominic Thiem limped out when he retired while losing 7-5, 6-
4, 2-0 to young Australian wildcard Alexei Popyrin.
Thiem went through a first round five-setter against Benoit Paire that
finished in the early hours of Wednesday morning and he never looked 100
percent.
US Open champion and fourth seed Naomi Osaka had it much easier, sweeping
past Slovenia’s Tamara Zidansek 6-2, 6-4 with the roof closed on Margaret
Court Arena after rain interrupted the opening major of the year.
The 21-year-old’s breakthrough at Flushing Meadow over Serena Williams
last year made her a new standard bearer for tennis in her homeland, Asia and
the next generation of women, and she is working hard on living up to the
hype.
– Energy-sapping –
“I thought I served alright, this was my first time playing her and I’m
just happy to win to be honest,” Osaka said after setting up a clash with
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei.
In contrast, Asia’s top-ranked men’s player Nishikori needed an energy-
sapping 3hr 48min to get past big-serving Croat Karlovic 6-3, 7-6 (8/6), 5-7,
5-7, 7-6 (10/7) in humid conditions.
“It was a tough match which could have gone both ways. He almost had it
for sure,” said the eighth seed, a three-time quarter-finalist at Melbourne
Park.
Sixteenth seed Raonic emerged the victor against Wawrinka, a three-time
Grand Slam champion who is on the comeback trail from injury.
The Swiss, unseeded for the first time since his debut in 2006, fell to
the Canadian 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (13/11), 7-6 (7/5).
Raonic, who got to the Australian Open semi-finals in 2016 before losing
to Andy Murray, will next face France’s Pierre-Hugues Herbert who beat last
year’s semi-finalist Hyung Cheon of South Korea.
Despite being seeded six and seven respectively, neither Elina Svitolina
or Karolina Pliskova has progressed further than the last eight at the
Australian Open.
But self-assured Svitolina is bubbling with confidence after dismantling
Viktoria Kuzmova 6-4, 6-1, while Pliskova woke up after losing the first set
to race past Madison Brengle 4-6, 6-1, 6-0.
Other women through included Italy’s Camila Giorgi and China’s impressive
21st seed Wang Qiang. Belgium’s 12th seed Elise Mertens lined up a third-
round showdown with American Madison Keys.
Men staying in the hunt included 11th seed Borna Coric of Croatia and
Spain’s 23rd seed Pablo Carreno-Busta.
BSS/AFP/RY/1810 hrs