Murray into 4th round
Another Aussie final a step closer for Brit
MELBOURNE, Australia – Andy Murray moved another step closer to consecutive Australian Open men’s finals, routing Guillermo Garcia Lopez 6-1, 6-1, 6-2 today in the third round of the year’s first major.
The fifth seed from Great Britian, who lost the 2010 final to Roger Federer, has dropped just 17 games in three rounds.
U.S. Open women’s champion Kim Clijsters beat Alize Cornet 7-6 (3), 6-3, spoiling 21st birthday plans for her French opponent. Cornet provided a tougher challenge for Clijsters, who had only conceded four games in her first two rounds.
Cornet fended off two match points on her serve before the 27-year-old Belgian closed it out.
Another former men’s finalist, 2008 runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, lost 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 to Alexandr Dolgopolov.
Milos Raonic, a 20-year-old Canadian qualifier with the fastest serve in the first two rounds at 143 mph, fired 32 aces while pushing aside No. 10 Mikhail Youzhny 6-4, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.
No. 4 Robin Soderling, who beat Jan Hernych 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 and next plays Dolgopolov, hasn’t dropped a set and is on an eight-match winning streak with his three here after winning the tuneup tournament at Brisbane. He’s lost the last two French Open finals to Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, but has some big wins over the dominant pair and is confident both can be beaten.
“There’s always going to be a lot of attention on Roger and Rafa, of course,” he said. “But I think there’s many guys who can actually compete against them and have a chance to win the tournaments like this when they’re playing well.
“I already played two Grand Slam finals and I beat them both in Grand Slams. But again, of course, they will always be the favorites, and we are the guys who need to play really well if we’re going to have a chance to beat them.”
Soderling’s match was delayed for about 10 minutes in the third set when a bubble appeared on the court surface at Hisense Arena. A similar bubble delayed the start of a match on the same court Friday.
No, 2 seed Vera Zvonareva kept alive her bid for a third straight Grand Slam final with a 6-3, 7-6 (9) win over Lucie Safarova.
Zvonareva served for the match twice but was extended to the tiebreaker. Safarova led 4-2 and 5-3 in the tiebreaker before Zvonareva finally sealed it on her fourth match point.
No. 12 Agnieszka Radwanska also advanced in the women’s draw, beating Simona Halep 6-1, 6-2.
There was some heated moments in the men’s doubles, with match officials stepping in to calm a heated exchange at the net.
Spain’s Feliciano Lopez accused India’s Leander Paes of trying to provoke him and his partner, Juan Monaco of Argentina, during the second-round match. Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi won 7-6 (2), 6-4.
Television footage showed all four players arguing at the net.
Venus Williams retired because of an injury after 4 minutes of her match with Andrea Petkovic on Friday night. It was her first injury default in 252 Grand Slam matches.