Serena survives scare as top seeds advance easily
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, January 16, 2013
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Serena Williams temporarily overcame a major scare and managed to overwhelm Edina Gallovits-Hall 6-0, 6-0 in the first round. |
Serena Williams frightened a few people, including herself. Defending champion Victoria Azarenka had a momentary lack of concentration. Two of the biggest names on the men's side at the Australian Open, Roger Federer and Andy Murray, had straight-set wins.
Serena fell awkwardly on her right ankle in her 6-0, 6-0 win over No. 110-ranked Edina Gallovits-Hall. The American had the ankle heavily taped by trainers and was able to continue and still dominate the Romanian player.
"I think I was really, really close to panicking because a very similar thing happened to me last year, almost on the same side, the same shot," Serena said. "I just had to really remain calm and think things through."
"Oh, I'll be out there," she said of her second-round match.
Azarenka trailed 0-3 in the second set of her match with Monica Niculescu before leveling the set at 4-4 and winning 6-1, 6-4.
Told that her biggest threat on her half of the draw had injured her ankle, Azarenka wondered, tongue-in-cheek, how serious it could be: "I heard she won love and love, so what kind of injury are we talking about?"
Also, China's Peng Shuai beat Canada's Rebecca Marino 6-3, 6-0 to advance.
Murray beat Robin Haase of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-1, 6-3. Second-seeded Federer defeated Benoit Paire of France 6-2, 6-4, 6-1.
In other men's matches, No. 6 Juan Martin del Potro, 2008 finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 13 Milos Raonic of Canada, who beat Jan Hajek 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 7-6 (0), No. 14 Gilles Simon No. 17, Philipp Kohlschreiber, No. 21 Andreas Seppi and No. 25 Florian Mayer all advanced.
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