MELBOURNE, (Reuters) – Roger Federer and Serena Williams were given the royal seal of approval after dazzling performances at the Australian Open yesterday.
Britain’s Prince William was in the stands at the Rod Laver Arena admiring the Swiss master’s win over Romania’s Victor Hanescu 6-2 6-3 6-2 in the second round.
Federer later thanked the Prince for attending and shared a private moment with him before Serena Williams and her mother Oracene posed for a photograph with the second in line to the British throne.
“He was happy he could make it. I’m not gonna tell you everything he just said to me. You’ve got to have a little bit of a secret,” Federer told a news conference.
“He shook a lot of hands, and I knew mine was one more. From what I’ve heard, I think he met Serena and myself.”
Federer’s polished display dispelled any doubts about his prospects of winning the first grand slam of the year after he survived a scare in his opening match with Igor Andreev.
“It’s still early on in the tournament,” he said. “You sometimes don’t have to force the issue every single time.”
Serena had earlier joined older sister Venus in the third round as the main contenders continued to move safely through the draw.
Serena had no problems defeating Czech Petra Kvitova 6-2 6-1 and is steadily improving as she tries to defend the title she won last year while Venus cruised to a 6-2 7-5 victory over Austria’s Sybille Bammer.
“I thought today was a little bit better than my match in my first round,” Serena said. “I felt like I was moving better and I had better energy. Yeah, just felt all around a lot better.”
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, the 2008 champion, survived a shaky start to win while in-form Russian Nikolay Davydenko and Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt advanced in straight sets.