Paes advances in mixed, men’s doubles; Bopanna-Qureshi out
Melbourne: An injury-hit Serena Williams crashed out of the Australian Open against Ana Ivanovic on Sunday, missing the chance for an 18th major title and a rare calendar-year Grand Slam.
As men’s champion Novak Djokovic reached the quarterfinals with his 28th straight win since September, another Serb rubbed out the hot women’s favourite and ended one of the longest streaks of her career.
In a result that throws the women’s draw wide open, Ivanovic capitalised on Williams’ poor movement to take her first ever sets against the world number one, winning 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Afterwards, Williams said she was on strong medication for a back injury which she suffered in recent days and almost prompted her to pull out before her third-round win over Daniela Hantuchova.
“I made a tremendous amount of errors, shots I missed I normally don’t miss, I haven’t missed since the ’80s. I’m just not used to missing those shots,” she said.
“I think Ana just played a really good match. She did what it takes to win.”
The upset robs Williams of the chance to join Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova on 18 Grand Slams, and draw nearer to Steffi Graf’s Open-era record of 22.
Williams’ coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, had said she was capable of winning all four Grand Slam titles this year – a feat not achieved since Graf’s sweep in 1988.
“Maybe I can win four in a row, but it seems like in the one year it’s kind of difficult for me for whatever reason,” said Williams, 32.
Her departure is a giant opportunity for those left in the draw, including Ivanovic, defending champion Victoria Azarenka and Li Na, who beat Ekaterina Makarova to reach the last eight.
Williams was on a 25-match winning streak, the second best of her career, after one of her most successful seasons in 2013 when she won a career-high 11 titles, including the French Open and US Open.
Ivanovic, the former world number one who is resurgent under new coach Nemanja Kontic, will now play Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard, 19.
“I think all the struggles were just for moments like this,” said the popular 26-year-old, who has never yet regained the highs of 2008 when she won the French Open and topped the world rankings.
Meanwhile, Djokovic had to endure a grating comedy act, but little threatening tennis, from Italian seed Fabio Fognini, a close friend whom he has known since junior days, to reach the quarter-finals.
The four-time champion kept focus to win 6-3, 6-0, 6-2 despite relentless antics at the other end from Fognini, who splashed water in his face, knocked a marshall’s hat and clowned for the crowd.
“I knew that he’s a flashy kind of player and that if he feels good, if he’s focused enough, he can be very dangerous opponent on any surface,” Djokovic said.
Third seed David Ferrer doggedly ground down Germany’s Florian Mayer 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-2, 6-1 to set up a quarterfinal with Tomas Berdych, who beat Kevin Anderson 6-2, 6-2, 6-3.
And China’s Li was irresistible in her 6-2, 6-0 win over Russian 22nd seed Makarova as the two-time finalist reached the last eight in just under an hour.
The 2011 French Open winner will next play fellow veteran Flavia Pennetta, who at 31 is exactly one day older than the Chinese number one. Italy’s Pennetta beat German Angelique Kerber 6-1, 4-6, 7-5.
“At least she’s one day older than me, so I’ll play an older player,” quipped Li. “So nobody will talk about my age.”
In the evening, teenager Bouchard beat Australian wildcard Casey Dellacqua in three sets to become the first Canadian Grand Slam quarterfinalist in 22 years.
There was also a straight sets victory for Stanislas Wawrinka, although he was pushed to two tie-breakers against Tommy Robredo in the 6-3, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5) match.
Meanwhile, it was a fruitful day for veteran Indian star Leander Paes, who sailed into the quarterfinals of the men’s doubles with Czech partner Radek Stepanek, besides making the second round of the mixed doubles with Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova.
Fifth seeds Paes and Stepanek hit 25 winners en route their 6-3, 6-2 win over the unseeded pair of India’s Yuki Bhambri and New Zealand’s Michael Venus in the pre-quarterfinal.
In his mixed doubles first round match, Paes, partnering Hantuchova, got the better of Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia and Australia’s James Duckworth 7-5, 4-6, 10-7 to set up a second round clash against Mahesh Bhupathi and Elena Vesnina.
Eighth seeds Bhupathi and Vesnina of Russia crossed the first-round hurdle in the mixed doubles with a 6-7 (3), 6-4, 10-5 win over Spain’s Arantxa Parra-Santonj and David Marrero.
However, seventh seeds Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi endured a shocking defeat against the 12th-seeded duo of Treat Huey and Dominic Inglot to crash out of the men’s doubles event 6-4, 7-6 (1). (Agencies)