Five-time champion Serena Williams enjoyed a convincing win in the third round of the Australian Open on Saturday, but there were tears as two of the top 10 seeds departed after major upsets.
Williams thrashed World No. 92 Greta Arn 6-1, 6-1 in 59 minutes to close out the women's third round, in an ominous display as she seeks her 14th Grand Slam win.
She will now take on Ekaterina Makarova in the round of 16 following the unseeded Russian's surprise 7-6(7), 6-1 win over seventh seed Vera Zvonareva. Zvonareva left the Australian Open in tears after her loss to the 56th-ranked Makarova, while China's Zheng Jie also caused an upset as she sent ninth-seeded Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli crashing out 6-3, 6-3.
Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and Russia's Maria Sharapova, the 2008 Australian champion, sailed through their matches.
Kvitova won 6-0, 1-0 when Russia's Maria Kirilenko retired with a thigh injury, while Sharapova beat feisty German Angelique Kerber 6-1, 6-2.
The 32-year-old Arn started well against Williams in the Rod Laver Arena and had a break point in the opening game, but that was as close as she got as the American stepped up to overpower her opponent and run away with the match.
Williams broke Arn twice in the first set and three times in the second as the Hungarian wilted on the big stage.
“I'm nowhere near where I want to be, but I'm trying to play through it,” said Williams, who missed much of last year with injury.
Zheng got away to a lightning start against the powerful Bartoli and there was no let-up in her raking groundstrokes as she joined fellow Chinese Li Na in the fourth round, where she plays Italian Sara Errani.
Kirilenko retires
Wimbledon title-holder Kvitova also showed tremendous power before Kirilenko retired injured in the second set.
After breaking Kirilenko's serve in a 10-minute opening game, the Czech World No.2 raced through the remainder of the set with a succession of booming serves and punishing groundstrokes.
“The way I played in the first five games was great,” she said. “I mean, from the last match that I played it was really a big difference and I'm really happy how I played today. Hopefully it will continue like this.”
Kvitova will play Ana Ivanovic in the fourth round after the Serb's 6-4, 6-4 win over American Vania King, while Italy's Errani downed Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6-7(6), 6-0, 6-2.
Sharapova was flattered by the scoreline in her match against the 30th seeded Kerber.
The Russian No.1, who won in Melbourne in 2008, broke Kerber three times in each set, but had to battle in the second as the German lifted her game.
“I played a really good first set, but she certainly stepped up in the second,” Sharapova said. She next plays 14th seeded German Sabine Lisicki, who ended the hopes of two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Hewitt delights home crowd
An emotional Lleyton Hewitt somehow dragged his battered body into the fourth round with a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-3 victory over young gun Milos Raonic.
The former World No.1, a wildcard in his record 16th appearance at Melbourne Park, rode a wave of emotion from a frenzied 15,000 crowd on Rod Laver Arena to rally from a set down to beat the 23rd seed.
The 30-year-old Australian sealed victory, after four deuces in his final service game, with a lob that Raonic could only return over his shoulder into the net and afterwards lay prone, arms and legs outstretched, on the court.
“It's tough serving out any match,” said Hewitt, who will play World No.1 and defending champion Novak Djokovic in the last 16.
“A couple of weeks ago, I would have given anything to be serving to go into the second round at the Australian Open and it's hard to block that out. It's just another game, but it's a big bloody game.”
Montenegro-born Canadian Raonic, who had his breakthrough year on the ATP circuit in 2011, was only six years old when Hewitt made his Australian Open debut as a qualifier in 1997.
With Bernard Tomic playing Roger Federer on Sunday, Australia has two men in the last 16, at its home Grand Slam, for the first time since 2004.
Defending champion Novak Djokovic blitzed his way into the fourth round, conceding just two games as big guns Andy Murray and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also eased through.
Good day for Indians
Sania Mirza and Elena Vesnina overcame a fighting Eva Birnerova and Alberta Brianti 7-5, 7-5 to advance to the women's doubles pre-quarterfinals, as India recorded its second straight all-win day at the Australian Open here on Saturday.
The sixth-seeded Indo-Russian pair saved 13 breakpoints out of 16 against the Czech-Italian combination in the second round clash, which lasted close to two hours at court number six.
They will now fight it out with Australia's Jarmila Gajdosova and American Bethanie Mattek-Sands for a place in the quarterfinals.
First-time partners Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna progressed to the men's doubles pre-quarterfinals, as the fourth seeded Indian pair scored an easy 6-2, 6-2 win over Australia's Carsten Ball and
Leander Paes also had a good day in the office as he won his opening mixed doubles clash with Elena Vesnina in straight sets against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia and Max Mirnyi of Belarus.
The fifth-seeded Indo-Russian pair overcame a late charge from its rivals to score a 6-2, 7-5 win. Meanwhile in the junior event, India's Ratnika Batra and Rutuja Bhosale will be in action against Taylor Townsend and Iva Mekovec, respectively, in the girls' singles first round on Sunday.
