Tumbling Serena leads march of the top seeds
Federer and Murray progress
Serena Williams refused to let a painful tumble divert her from her quest for a sixth Australian Open title yesterday as Roger Federer and Andy Murray progressed almost untroubled towards their goals on day two at Melbourne Park.
Williams picked herself up to complete a resounding 6-0 6-0 victory over Edina Gallovits-Hall, a ruthless dominance that world no.1 and defending champion Victoria Azarenka was unable to replicate as she progressed to the second round.
Federer beat Benoit Paire 6-2 6-4 6-1 to embark on his campaign for an 18th major title after Murray had steadied his grand slam nerves with a controlled 6-3 6-1 6-3 victory over Robin Haase.
After an underwhelming opening day of the tournament on Monday, the sheer wealth of talent on display on the show courts almost ensured a better day two under sunny skies.
There is no bigger personality in tennis than Williams, who is chasing a third successive grand slam title after wins at Wimbledon and the US Open, and the American almost inevitably hogged the spotlight.
Rampaging towards victory, the 31-year-old turned her ankle after hitting a forehand and lay prone on the court for a couple of dramatic minutes.
She was soon back up, to complete the rout and said nothing would stop her from taking to court for her second round tie against Spain’s Garbine Muguruza.
“I’ll be out there,” she said.
“I mean, unless something fatal happens to me, there’s no way I’m not going to be competing. I’m alive. My heart’s beating. I’ll be fine.”
Women’s top seed Azarenka was forced to come back from 3-0 down in the second set in her 6-1 6-4 victory over Romania’s Monica Niculescu.
With second seed Maria Sharapova having also won her first round match without conceding a game, Azarenka might have been looking to make a similar statement but the Belarussian said she was just happy to be back on court.
“I couldn’t wait to get out there and play,” said the 23-year-old.
After only two seeds fell in the entirety of day one of the tournament, women’s seventh seed Sara Errani and 12th ranked Nadia Petrova departed in quick succession yesterday.
While Errani’s 6-4 6-4 loss to Carla Suarez Navarro was not a huge shock, 42-year-old Kimiko Date-Krumm’s 6-2 6-0 victory over Russia’s Petrova earned her a place in the tennis record books as the oldest winner of a women’s singles match at the Australian Open tournament.