Serena, Venus win third round matches; Radwanska upset by Italian on Day 6 in Melbourne

Serena Williams and Samantha Stosur won their third round matches in straight sets Saturday to set up a fourth round clash.

Stosur, the No.13 seed at the year's first major, was the first of the pair to advance, unleashing a flurry of winners from all areas of the court to beat Italian veteran Alberta Brianti, 64 61. Stosur fired 25 winners - including 11 aces.

"I'm very pleased with the way I was able to step it up a gear from 3-2 in the first set," Stosur said. "I made some errors early but once I got over that I started hitting enough winners. I'm going to get some errors if I'm playing aggressively."

"The first couple of weeks of the year I wasn't handling things the way I needed to, but I came into the Aussie Open and had that all done, it was all over, and I just had to get out there and play tennis again. I just wanted to feel good about my tennis... I feel like I've gotten over that hurdle and am playing well."

World No.1, top seed and four-time Australian Open champion Williams will be Stosur's next and by far toughest test. Williams advanced later in the day, beating No.32 seed Carla Suárez Navarro in straight sets, 60 63. She won the first five games in 15 minutes but needed 19 minutes to win a 13-deuce sixth game, then won a routine second set.

"It was the toughest 6-0 set... she was really fighting for it. I was too. I didn't want to lose that game," Williams said. "I just tried to relax. I really enjoyed that game and had a lot of fun. I thought, 'Okay Serena, don't put too much pressure on this. Worst case scenario, it'll be 5-1. But way to keep fighting.'"

Venus Williams held off a valiant challenge from Casey Dellacqua at the 2010 Australian Open.

Williams, the No.6 seed and a former finalist Down Under, took the first set handily before Dellacqua, on the comeback trail from left shoulder surgery last February, kicked it up a notch. She pushed the seven-time Grand Slam champion to a tie-break in the second set and even fended off three match points there before succumbing to the American, 61 76(4).

"It was my third lefty in a row, which is a little unusual," said Williams, who was playing three southpaws in a row for the very first time in her career. "She played really well in the second set. I had a lot of chances to go up breaks at 4-1 or 5-2, and she just hung in there and kept playing tough. That kind of play and experience will serve her well throughout the year and her career."

Williams was joined on the winners list by No.7 seed Victoria Azarenka, No.9 seed Vera Zvonareva, No.13 seed Samantha Stosur, No.16 seed Li Na, No.17 seed Francesca Schiavone and last but not least, No.1 seed Serena Williams, who beat No.32 seed Carla Suárez Navarro earlier in the day, 60 63. Read more about Serena's win over the young Spaniard here.

Schiavone was the only upset artist of Day 6 of the year's first Grand Slam tournament, taking out No.10 seed Agnieszka Radwanska, 62 62.


Saturday, January 23, 2010

Singles - Third Round
(1) Serena Williams (USA) d. (32) Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP) 60 63
(4) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) d. (29) Shahar Peer (ISR) 64 60
(6) Venus Williams (USA) d. (WC) Casey Dellacqua (AUS) 61 76(4)
(7) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. Tathiana Garbin (ITA) 60 62
(9) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) d. Gisela Dulko (ARG) 61 75
(17) Francesca Schiavone (ITA) d. (10) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) 62 62
(13) Samantha Stosur (AUS) d. Alberta Brianti (ITA) 64 61
(16) Li Na (CHN) d. (22) Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) 75 36 62