Serena Williams continued to send out warning signals to her future opponents as he crushed another player on her way to the fourth round of the 2019 Australian Open.
The former world number one and winner of the 2017 Australian Open, her last Grand Slam title before she went on a maternity break, thrashed Dayana Yastremska 6-2, 6-1 to roll into the fourth round of the tournament.
Williams fired eight aces and served just one double-fault in a performance that was quite reminiscent of her showing against Eugenie Bouchard in the second round to complete the facile win.
In effect, she will now enter her fourth round match against either her sister Venus Williams or top seeded Simona Halep, having dropped just nine games spread across three matches and six sets and has virtually looked unstoppable throughout.
Naomi Osaka looked like she was in a spot of trouble too when she fell behind against Su-wei Hsieh before completed a fine turnaround in the remaining two sets to win the encounter.
In an error-ridden match, Osaka was down 5-7, 1-4 at one stage before winning 11 of the next 12 games to complete the victory.
Osaka will now take on Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova in the fourth round. Sevastova overcame 21st seeded Wang Qiang in straight sets to march in the round of 16.
Sixth seeded Elina Svitolina had her own problems in the third round after she also went a set down to Shuai Zhang in the third round.
Fantastic sportsmanship from @ElinaSvitolina
?#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/Qkd9KVO1TF— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 19, 2019
Svitolina, who was two breaks down in the final set, rallied to beat Zhang in a match lasting nearly three hours in hot conditions and then walked up to her opponent to inquire about her health at the end of the match.
She said:
“I think a tennis match is a tennis match. You finish the match, and of course everyone wants to win as bad as the other person, but it’s done. She’s a very nice person. I played with her in TieBreakTens and we had a good time. We practice sometimes.”
“It’s not only about tennis here. I think it’s very important to be a person and to be open. That’s what I am. It’s not like a big deal for me, but, you know, when someone is hurting, it’s normal to help.”
The Ukrainian will now face the winner of the Elise Mertens v Madison Keys encounter in her fourth round.
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