Australian Open Day Four: Serena Marches on, Aussies Delight Home Crowd

Defending champion Serena Williams strolled into the third round in Melbourne on Thursday, and Aussie favourites Sam Stosur and Casey Dellacqua delighted fans on Rod Laver Arena with a pair of hard-fought straight set wins.

There were also victories for No. 4 Caroline Wozniacki, No. 6 Venus Williams, seventh-seeded Victoria Azarenka, and No. 9 Vera Zvonareva, although seeds Sabine Lisicki and Ana Ivanovic both went out.

Serena needed just one hour seven minutes to see of Petra Kvitova, who was clearly overmatched by the American’s power.

The world No. 1 hit eight aces and 23 winners and she dropped just three points on her first serve. She has lost only six games through her first two matches and will now face Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro, the lowest-seeded player down under, in the third round.

The talk around Melbourne Park though belonged to Stosur and Dellacqua. Stosur beat Kristina Barrois 7-5, 6-3 to set up a third round clash with No. 73 Alberta Brianti, but all eyes are anxiously looking ahead one step further to her potential fourth round encounter with Serena.

Should Stosur see the Italian, she will have a chance to put the demons of last year behind her. In Sydney last January, Stosur threw away a 4-0 lead in the third set, throwing away four match points because of what she called “crippling nerves.”

Stosur did manage to beat Williams later on in the year in the quarterfinals at Stanford, but I’m sure a big win at her home Grand Slam would finally put the issue to bed.

Meanwhile Perth-born Casey Dellacqua shone under the bright lights in the final match of day four, following Roger Federer onto Rod Laver Arena and edging past Karolina Sprem in a tick under two hours.

The 24-year-old Aussie, a wild card in the event, needed two tiebreakers to beat hard-hitting Sprem 7-6(4), 7-6(6). The match featured a lot of errors and some poor serving, but make no mistake that Dellacqua deserves her place in the third round. Unlike Stosur though, she doesn’t have to wait to meet a Williams sister.

With Venus beating Sybille Bammer earlier in the day 6-2, 7-5, the event organizers will have little choice but to award Dellacqua with another show court for her match with Venus on Saturday.

The No. 6 seed blasted her way past, or rather, through, Bammer, hitting 32 winners to Bammer’s four. Williams was not as dominant on her serve as we have seen in the past, but she still had way too many weapons for the Austrian, both from the back of the court and at the net.

Should Dellacqua, ranked No. 980 in the world, spring a shock on seven-time Major winner Venus, it will equal her best run in a Grand Slam when she made it to the fourth round in 2008. More significantly, it could be one of the biggest wins for an Aussie in the history of Melbourne Park.

Elsewhere on day four in Oz, No. 4 Caroline Wozniacki needed just over an hour to beat German Julia Goerges 6-3, 6-1, setting up a third round match with No. 29 Shahar Peer, one of six all-seed matchups in the top half of the draw.

No. 7 Victoria Azarenka beat Stefanie Voegele 6-4, 6-0 and ninth-seeded Vera Zvonareva defeated Iveta Benesova 6-0, 6-3. Azarenka and Zvonareva could meet in the fourth round if they beat Argentine Gisela Dulko and Tathiana Garbin respectively.

Dulko was one of the surprise winners on day four, booking her spot in the third round with an exciting 6-7(6), 7-5, 6-4 victory over No. 20 Ana Ivanovic.

Dulko, in a light pink dress and white headband, took a commanding 4-1 lead in the first set but lost the next four games to eventually set up a tiebreak. Dulko led 5-4 but handed the set to Ivanovic with a double fault. Her frustration was visible.

Even at a set down, Dulko was still dominating the points, moving Ivanovic around the court with her heavy, flat forehand. The second set was just as tight, with Ivanovic pumping her fist after every big point and service hold. At 4-4, the question became who would break down first, after each woman had dropped serve twice already. Dulko’s nerve held firm and she took the match into a decider.

Dulko led 5-1 in the third, but needed six match points to see off former world No. 1 “Aussie Ana”, who constantly had trouble with her ball toss throughout and looked as mentally frail as we have seen in a while.

In other second round matches, No. 16 seed Na Li had to fight from a set and 3-1 down to squirm past Hungarian Agnes Szavay 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. Li saved a match point in the second set and rallied hard in the third to keep her hopes of making it to the second week of the tournament alive.

She will meet No. 22 Daniela Hantuchova in the third round after the Slovak beat Sofia Arvidsson 6-4, 6-1.

Wrapping up the rest of the second round action, No. 10 Agnieszka Radwanska blitzed past free-swinging Alla Kudryavtseva 6-0, 6-2, Francesca Schiavone beat France’s Julie Coin 6-3, 6-4, Alberta Brianti rallied from a set down to defeat No. 21 Sabine Lisicki 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, No. 32 Carla Suarez Navarro beat Andrea Petkovic 6-1, 6-4, and Tathiana Garbin had to come from a set behind against Yaroslava Shvedova 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-0.

In action on Friday is No. 2 seed Dinara Safina who will face British No. 1 Elena Baltacha, and world No. 3 Svetlana Kuznetsova against Angeligue Kerber.

Justine Henin will look to continue her hot start to 2010 against No. 27 seed Alisa Kleybanova, and Kim Clijsters will battle No. 19 Nadia Petrova for a place in the fourth round. Marion Bartoli will lock horns with Jie Zheng, Maria Kirilenko will face Italian Roberta Vinci, ever-dangerous floater Yanina Wickmayer will play Sara Errani, and Jelena Jankovic will meet Alona Bondarenko.