Serena & Sharapova power through
| Australian Open |
|---|
| Venue: Melbourne Park Dates: 18-31 January |
| Coverage: Live radio and text commentary on all Andy Murray matches. Listen to Tennis Breakfast on Radio 5 live sports extra and the BBC Sport website from 07:00 GMT every day. |
Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova avoided any threat of upsets with straightforward wins in round two of the Australian Open in Melbourne.
Fifth seed Sharapova beat Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-2 6-1 on Rod Laver Arena before top seed Williams thrashed Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-Wei 6-1 6-2.
Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are among those in action on Wednesday.
British number ones Andy Murray and Jo Konta resume their campaigns in the second round on Thursday.
Japanese seventh seed Kei Nishikori was another early winner on day three as he beat American Austin Krajicek 6-3 7-6 (7-5) 6-3.
Ukraine’s Kateryna Bondarenko caused an upset with a 6-1 7-5 win over Russian 23rd seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, winner of the Sydney title last week.
Venus fined for media snub
World number 10 and seven-times Grand Slam champion Venus Williams was given a US$5,000 fine for failing to appear at a news conference on Tuesday.
The American, 35, did not fulfil her post-match media commitments after losing in straight sets to Britain’s Jo Konta.
Williams was fined US$3,000 by the International Tennis Federation at last year’s French Open for skipping her media duties following a first-round defeat by Sloane Stephens.
GB women set up doubles clash
Konta might have had a day off from singles duties, but she found the time to make progress in the doubles as Britain’s women provided a Fed Cup boost.
The world number 47 teamed up with Heather Watson to beat 16th seeds Gabriela Dabrowski and Alicja Rosolska 6-1 7-6 (9-7) in the first round.
Britain’s number one and two move on to face compatriots Jocelyn Rae and Anna Smith, who defeated China’s Chen Lian and Shuai Peng 3-6 6-2 7-6 (7-2).
Fed Cup captain Judy Murray will be keeping a close eye on that one, with all four players in her squad to travel to Israel for the gruelling Euro-Africa Zone tournament straight after Melbourne.