Defending champion Serena Williams spent less than an hour on the court to reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open after defeating Russia’s Margarita Gasparyan 6-2, 6-1.
It was a far from perfect start to the match for Williams, who was broken in her first service game. Despite the promising start from her Russian opponent, Williams responded automatically by breaking back to level at 1-1. Finding her game, Williams took control when she broke for the second consecutive time to extend her lead top 3-1. Gasparyan, who stunned 17th seed Sara Errani in the first round, had no answer to Williams aggressive play on the court as the top seed broke the Russian for the third time to seal the set after 31 minutes. Despite the straight forward first set, Williams won 69% of her first serves and only 50% of her second.
Unlike the opening set, the second started out more consistent with no breaks of service occurring in the first three games before Williams dominated proceedings. Converting her ninth break point of the match, the world No.1 extended her lead to a set and 3-1. There was no way back for the world No.58 as Williams claimed four consecutive games to seal the win after only 57 minutes of play.
Throughout her fourth round encounter, Williams produced 19 winners and 15 unforced errors. The American outclassed Gasparyan in almost every aspect of the match. The only exception was the number aces, the Russian produced four compared to Williams three.
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The reward for Williams will be last eight clash with Maria Sharapova. Sharapova reached the quarterfinals after edging past Belinda Bencic. The American has a standout head-to-head lead of 18-2 against Sharapova. The last time she lost to the Russian was at the 2004 Wimbledon Championships. Nevertheless, Williams is aware of how much of a threat Sharapova will be.
“She always brings something new and something special. She’s very consistent, as well,” Williams said.
“She knows how to be a player that’s always consistently winning and training and working hard and winning matches.”
Discussing her 18 consecutive wins over Sharapova, Williams said that the pressure will be on her and not Sharapova.
“I think the person who’s winning could definitely feel the pressure because there is a lot of expectations. The person who loses, don’t have anything to lose”. The world No.1 said.
Despite having the pressure of continuing her dominance against Sharapova, the 34-year-old said that at this stage of her career ‘she has nothing to lose‘.
“In this situation, I don’t have anything to lose because I’m just here — every tournament for me is just a bonus at this point in my career”. Williams concluded.
