AUSTRALIAN OPEN

Serena cruises to victory, aims for record 23rd title

American Serena Williams returns a shot to compatriot Nichole Gibbs during her 6-1, 6-3 victory in the third round of the Australian Open on Friday in Melbourne.
American Serena Williams returns a shot to compatriot Nichole Gibbs during her 6-1, 6-3 victory in the third round of the Australian Open on Friday in Melbourne.

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Serena Williams' 17th appearance at the Australian Open remains on track -- the 22-time Grand Slam singles champion beat fellow American Nicole Gibbs 6-1, 6-3 at Rod Laver Arena today.

Gibbs, 23, making her 12th appearance overall at any major, had two game points at 1-1 in the second set, but allowed Williams to come back and break her serve.

Williams was broken at 5-2 while serving for the match, but did the same to Gibbs in the next game to complete the victory in 63 minutes.

The six-time Australian Open champion advanced to the fourth round for the sixth year in a row since not playing here in 2011 because of a foot injury.

Aiming for a record 23rd Grand Slam singles title, Williams will next play No. 16 Barbora Strycova, who beat No. 21 Caroline Garcia 6-2, 7-5.

After leading by a set and two breaks, Ekaterina Makarova needed three sets and almost three hours to finally beat WTA Finals champion Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-3 in the third round.

Makarova has reached the semifinals at the Australian Open before, but didn't want to celebrate anything today more than her first career victory over Cibulkova -- the 2014 finalist here.

Makarova went on a six-game roll to clinch the first set and lead 4-0 in the second, but Cibulkova won the next five to take the momentum.

The left-handed Makarova tripped and fell to the court and later needed medical attention for her right elbow in the third set.

In a match featuring 11 service breaks, Makarova got the decisive break in the eighth game of the deciding set to lead 5-3 and then held to close, setting up match point with her fifth ace of the day.

Makarova will play either 2016 semifinalist Johanna Konta, who beat her in the fourth round here last year, or former No. 1-ranked Caroline Wozniacki, who play in the last match today.

Mirjana Lucic-Baroni continued her unlikely run with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory today over Maria Sakkari.

Before this week, Lucic-Baroni, 34, hadn't won a match at Melbourne Park since her debut at the Australian Open in 1998. The 19-year gap in between match victories at a Grand Slam tournament broke the record set by Kimiko Date-Krumm, who went 17 years between match victories at Wimbledon.

Lucic-Baroni reached the semifinals of Wimbledon in 1999 as a 17-year-old and captured the Australian Open doubles title a year before that with Martina Hingis.

She next plays American Jennifer Brady, a qualifier ranked No. 116, for a chance to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal since her run at Wimbledon 17 years ago.

Brady had never played in one of the four Grand Slam events in tennis before she qualified for Australia.

The 21-year-old American has been making the most of the occasion, including a 7-6 (4), 6-2 victory over 14th-seeded Elena Vesnina.

By saving five match points before rallying to beat Heather Watson in the second round, Brady effectively doubled her number of career victories.

In the first men's result of day six, No. 11 David Goffin had a 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 victory over No. 20 Ivo Karlovic, ending the veteran Croatian's run in Melbourne.

The 37-year-old Karlovic's victory in the first round set an endurance record -- the 84 games in the victory over Horacio Zeballos, which ended 22-20 in the fifth, was an Open-era record for the tournament.

At a glance

MELBOURNE, Australia — A look at the Australian Open: WEATHER Early rain, then mostly sunny, high temperature of 70 degrees. ATTENDANCE Day: 42,343; Night: 27,365. TOTAL: 69,708. SEEDED MEN’S WINNERS No. 1 Andy Murray, No. 4 Stan Wawrinka, No. 5 Kei Nishikori, No. 12 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 17 Roger Federer. SEEDED MEN’S LOSERS No. 10 Tomas Berdych, No. 23 Jack Sock, No. 27 Bernard Tomic, No. 29 Viktor Troicki, No. 31 Sam Querrey. SEEDED WOMEN’S WINNERS No. 1 Angelique Kerber, No. 2 Serena Williams, No. 7 Garbine Muguruza, No. 8 Svetlana Kuznetsova, No. 13 Venus Williams, No. 24 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. SEEDED WOMEN’S LOSERS No. 11 Elina Svitolina, No. 32 Anastasija Sevastova.

Sports on 01/21/2017

Upcoming Events