ALL that can be said is that it was a master class at Rod Laver Arena on night three of Australian Open 2013.
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic was so merciless in his 6-1 6-2 6-3 domination of American Ryan Harrison in the men’s singles second round, it was close to cringeworthy.
Former world No. 1 Venus Williams also handed out a lesson, beating the raw, but talented, Alize Cornet, of France, in a 6-3 6-3 victory.
Djokovic was so good, it was scary.
The Serbian handled the booming Harrison serve that hit 229kph at one point and was in total control on his own serve to breeze past the youngster.
Djokovic acknowledged that it was probably his most impressive early-round performance at a Grand Slam. ”Yes, probably,” he said.
Ten years ago, Williams won this event, but has not won it since and has somewhat slipped into the shadow of her sister, Serena.
Ranked 26th in the world, few are talking about Williams as a contender, but on this dismantling of Cornet, she must be considered one of the best at long odds in the field.
We do not have to wait long to see her credentials in this tournament with a third round match up against one of her biggest rivals, Maria Sharapova, on Friday.
”I’m not expecting anything different,” Williams said of the showdown. ”Just, you know, high intensity level.”
Sharapova will be expecting something different, though. Williams, in this form, is as tricky a third round match-up as she would have experienced in her career.
Australian Open 2013
Day 3
Matches of the day: In the men’s, the match out on show court 2 between eighth seed Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) and Lukas Lacko (Slovakia) went late into the night with Tipsarevic coming through in a fifth set. In the women’s, there was heartbreak for Australian Samantha Stosur, who lost a see-sawing encounter to China’s Jie Zheng in front of her adoring fans on centre court.
Tomorrow’s picks: A heavyweight men’s singles showdown will take place between Swiss superstar Roger Federer and former top three Rissian Nikolay Davydenko at Rod Laver Arena in the night session. In women’s singles, fans will get a chance to see world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka in action, when she kicks off proceedings in the morning session on centre court against Greece’s Eleni Daniilidou.
