Serena Williams was slow to
get going before finding her groove to bulldoze Vera Zvonareva and join rampant
fellow world number one Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open third round
Thursday.
With the temperatures again
sizzling around 33 Celsius (93 Fahrenheit) at Melbourne Park, the American
18-time Grand Slam champion took time to adjust to the hot and humid conditions
against the Russian veteran.
She had to save two set
points before exploding into action in the second set to easily win 7-5, 6-0
and keep alive her dream of a sixth Australian title.
Djokovic, gunning to be
crowned champion a fifth time, was on fire in his showdown against Andrey
Kuznetsov, crushing the hapless Russian 6-0, 6-1, 6-4.
Williams said she only
started finding her range when she relaxed.
"She started out really
well, she was really aggressive and I was a little too passive," said
Williams, the top seed.
"Once I got down I
thought 'Serena, you've done so well here you've got nothing to lose, just have
fun and enjoy yourself' – then I started to play a lot better."
While the old guard of
Williams and Maria Sharapova are safely into the third round, the new
generation of Eugenie Bouchard and Simona Halep have looked more impressive in
the early rounds.
Sixth seed Agnieszka
Radwanska is also in ominous form after hiring former great Martina Navratilova
as her coach.
The Pole, a semi-finalist
last year, took just 44 minutes to brush aside Sweden's Johanna Larsson 6-0,
6-1 and has only lost four games in two matches.
"She's helped me a lot,
on and off the court," Radwanska said of Navratilova. "We're working
on a couple of things right now. So far so good."
Williams faces a tricky
third round match against another of the new young guns in Spanish world number
24 Garbine Muguruza, who beat Daniela Hantuchova 6-1, 0-6, 6-1.
Top seed Djokovic came out
of the blocks firing against Kuznetsov, who had no asnwer to his booming serve
and powerful groundstrokes.
Other men's seeds to progress
included Spanish 12th seed Feliciano Lopez and American 19th seed John Isner.
The blockbuster evening
clash will see two-time champion Victoria Azarenka face off with close friend
and former world number one Caroline Wozniacki.
Azarenka is ranked just 44
after an injury-marred 2014 while Wozniacki is seeded eight, with whoever wins
on course to meet Serena Williams in the quarter-finals.
Wozniacki's best performance
in Melbourne came when she reached the 2011 semi-finals, while Azarenka won
Australian titles in 2012 and 2013.
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