Down Under Rundown: Serena equals record of tennis legend in easy win
Day Three in Melbourne, and it's still scorching hot in Melbourne. Here's the best from the day.
Margaret Court is a bit of a legend around Melbourne, being Australia's most famous female tennis player. Now, Serena Williams is in her company.
The world No. 1 barely broke a sweat in 100-degree weather Wednesday, dispatching Serbia's Vesna Dolonc by a breezy 6-1, 6-2 score in their second-round match.
The win was Serena's 60th on the cerulean courts of Melbourne, matching Court's Open Era record at the Australian championship. Of course, Court won seven of her 11 Australian titles before the Open Era, but hey ... it still kind of counts, right?
Serena's ruthless play and the relentless heat left Dolonc feeling like this:
Vesna Dolonc had a rough go Wednesday.
Novak Djokovic -- No. 2 in the tournament and No. 1 in our hearts -- took to Rod Laver Arena following Serena's match and coasted to a 6-0, 6-4, 6-4 win over Argentina's Leonardo Mayer. Djokovic hasn't lost in Melbourne Park since a 2010 five-set defeat in the quarterfinals at the hands of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
His good luck charms must be working:
I got really nice presents from my dear fans. Wanted to share it with you.. good luck charms :-) Thank you girls pic.twitter.com/jbeulWVep0
— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) January 12, 2014
Jerzy Janowicz was pretty pumped up after beating Pablo Andujar.
Once he confirms the winning shot was legit, he shakes hands with the line judge and Andujar, then rips his shirt clean off as he heads for the stands.
#Janowicz rips his Jerzy off (see what we did there???) http://t.co/0n8wQxk9FS #ausopen
— Australian Open (@AustralianOpen) January 15, 2014
It may be hot (actually, there's no may about it) but the players are certainly giving it their all.
Check out this wild rally between Richard Gasquet and Nikolay Davydenko.
Ridiculous tennis! #Gasquet and #Davydenko play out the rally of the #ausopen (so far) http://t.co/2O3fePf1WG
— Australian Open (@AustralianOpen) January 15, 2014
Canada's Frank Dancevic fainted during his Tuesday match against France's Benoit Paire. It wasn't the first incident of extreme heat affecting players at the Australian Open, but Dancevic's comments after the match were particularly disturbing.
"I was dizzy from the middle of the first set and then I saw Snoopy and I thought, 'Wow Snoopy, that's weird'," Dancevic said.
Dancevic went on with some harsh comments about the state of affairs for the players.
"It's inhumane and I don't think it's fair to anybody when you see players pulling out of matches and passing out," Dancevic said.
The temperature has tipped over the 100-degree mark each day so far. Nine first-round matches ended in retirements. Dancevic actually managed to finish his, losing in straight sets.
A trio of mid-range seeds bowed out on Day Three.
On the men's side, No. 14 Mikhail Youzhny lost to Germany's Florian Mayer in three sets.
On the women's side, Australia's own Casey Dellacqua took down No. 18 seed Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium in a straight-set romp and No. 15 Sabine Lisicki of Germany lost to Romania's Monica Niculescu in three.
Bec Hewitt wants you to ... live long and prosper?
It's Day Three! THREE!
