Day 2 Images in Australian Open 2016

Day 1 Images in Australian Open 2016

source:www.ausopen.com

Four-time Melbourne champion produces top-shelf tennis in runaway win over David Goffin.

It was a match-up more David and Goliath than David and Roger. Goffin faced deficits in every quantifiable area, from physical size and power to career earnings, accolades and experience.

Clinical, swift, ruthless, overwhelming … all of these words aptly described Federer’s approach to the match and execution of his tactics. He completely suffocated the Belgian, standing up on the baseline and cracking the ball definitively and early to keep long rallies at bay. It was a tactic that begat 15 forehand winners alone among 39 in total, compared with Goffin’s total tally of 17. When he wasn’t swatting winners from the baseline, Federer was charging the net, advancing 22 times with an excellent success rate of almost 90 per cent.

Goffin admitted that he struggled to adapt to the conditions at Rod Laver Arena, his first appearance on one of the world’s biggest tennis stages. By the time he did, in the third set, it was simply far too late.

Federer broke serve immediately in the third set and opened a 2-0 lead – the match was still yet to tick over the one hour mark. Goffin got on the board in the third game and at least pushed the third seed thanks to more steady, aggressive play. But with the break in hand, Federer never relinquished more than two points in any of his subsequent service games, and confidently served out the match to 15 to complete the rout.
 source: www.ausopen.com

Williams, Sharapova will meet in the quarterfinals in a rematch of the 2015 final after the No.1 seed's easy fourth-round win.

With such a straightforward progression, and Court sitting nearby, it was only natural that the conversation would turn to Serena’s potential of reaching the record 24 Grand Slam titles that the Australian collected.

“Obviously 24 is close but it’s still so far away,” said Serena. “There are so many wonderful players that are playing tough and want to be able to win some Slams too. Honestly, I just focus on each game at a time.”

It’s an approach that’s working superbly for Williams, who registered three aces and 19 winners in a dominant fourth-round performance that she described as more complete than her previous matches.

“Hopefully I can keep going forward,” she said. “I made a few errors, but it was a different game ... my serve wasn’t as good today. There’s always room for improvement.”

Another level may in fact be required in the quarterfinal, where Serena meets Maria Sharapova in a rematch of the 2015 women’s final. 

The single-minded world No.1 claimed to be unaware that the Russian was her opponent – although she’s well aware of the challenge that Sharapova could present, even after winning their past 18 matches.

“Every match is new,” Serena reasoned. “You know, she always brings in something new and something special. She’s very consistent, as well ... one player that’s always consistently winning and training hard and working hard and winning matches.”

Maria Sharapova moves into the quarterfinals at the expense of Swiss teenager Belinda Bencic

The Russian was out to make a statement early, setting up break points in the first two Bencic service games, but the No.12 seed hung tough, and after a double fault and a simple error from Sharapova, it was the Swiss who was first to draw blood, breaking Sharapova against the run of play. However – with the returning from both players a standout – it was followed by a run of four consecutive breaks

As the match steadied, Sharapova’s experience gave her the edge when she needed it, plucking the first set from Bencic’s grasp after forcing a crucial error from the 18-year-old’s racquet as she served to force the tiebreaker.

With an incredible amount of pressure mounting up behind their serves in the second set, it was still Sharapova who was creating the most opportunities, but Bencic showed maturity well beyond her years to stick with her opponent as the score line once again reached 5-6 in the Russian’s favour.

Serving to stay in the match for the second time, a long wait to see a challenge ultimately proved the youngster’s undoing, as she faltered and gave up a match point. A tight Sharapova was unable to capitalise though, dumping a backhand into the bottom of the net.

A second match point came shortly after, and a Sharapova return that whipped past Bencic was called out. A challenge from Maria was successful though and, as a forlorn Bencic looked hopefully at the umpire for a replay of the point, the match was over.

A replay of the 2015 final now looms on Tuesday when Sharapova faces No.1 seed Serena Williams after she defeated unseeded Russian Margarita Gasparyan 6-2 6-1.
source:http://www.ausopen.com/