Australian Open: Serena storms into third round

Melbourne: Serena Williams moved on by grabbing the last seven games to beat 99th-ranked Nina Stojanovic of Serbia 6-3, 6-0 in a little more than an hour.

Serena Williams is back in the Australian Open’s third round, where her stay in the Grand Slam tournament ended a year ago.

The owner of an Open era-record 23 major singles championships moved on by grabbing the last seven games to beat 99th-ranked Nina Stojanovic of Serbia 6-3, 6-0 in a little more than an hour.

Williams saved all three break points she faced, hit a half-dozen aces and compiled 27 winners with just 11 unforced errors. The 39-year-old American has won the title in Australia seven times, but her third-loss to Wang Qiang in the third round in 2020 was Williams’ earliest exit at Melbourne Park in 14 years.

This time, Williams will try to go further with a win against Anastasia Potapova, a 19-year-old Russian who was the junior champion at Wimbledon in 2016 and currently is ranked 101st. Potapova has yet to win a tour-level title and will be making her debut in the third round at a major tournament.

Meanwhile, India’s Rohan Bopanna and his Japanese partner Ben McLachlan crashed out of the Australian Open men’s doubles event after suffering a straight-sets defeat to South Korean pair of Ji Sung Nam and Min-Kyu Song in their first round contest.

Image courtesy of (Photo: eurosports.com)

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