MELBOURNE, (Reuters) – Five-times champion Serena Williams lost for the first time in four years at the Australian
Open yesterday but Novak Djokovic moved into the quarter-finals despite picking up a few battle scars against Lleyton Hewitt.
The American, a dominant force at the year’s first grand slam for the past decade, showed signs of wear and tear as she crashed 6-2 6-3 to world number 56 Ekaterina Makarova in the fourth round, ending a 17-match winning streak here.
Maria Sharapova was also staring into the abyss against
Sabine Lisicky before surviving for a 3-6 6-2 6-3 win.
On a day of surprises Kei Nishikori beat French sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in five sets to become the first Japanese to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open for 80 years.
He will now face Andy Murray after the Briton needed less than an hour to move past Mikhail Kukushkin.
The world number four was leading 6-1 6-1 1-0 when the Kazakh retired with a hip injury.
Williams, who won the title in 2009 and 2010 but missed out last year because of a career-threatening foot injury, was a pale imitation of her normal belligerent self as she crumbled to defeat in sweltering conditions at Rod Laver Arena.
She plans to take a course in kinesiology, the study of human movement, when she returns to the U.S. and the 30-year-old looked in dire need of some instruction after a stiff, lacklustre display.
The 13-times grand slam champion, who was the last American standing at Melbourne Park, had carried a sprained ankle into the tournament and was clearly not herself against a player showing scant regard for reputations.
“Obviously I’m not 100 percent, and I haven’t been. But it’s no excuse or anything,” a dejected Williams, who told reporters.
“I know that I can play 100 times better than I did this whole tournament. She went for broke on a lot of her shots. I made 37 errors. That kind of tells the story of the match.”
Russian Makarova conceded she had been scared stiff the first time she played Williams at the 2008 Olympics but it was a different story on Monday.
“I played her in Beijing and I was really afraid of her because she’s a great player and it’s really tough to play against her,” she beamed. “But this time, I don’t know, I felt so comfortable. I really thought that I could beat her.”
SERB’S
SPRINGBOARD
Serbian Djokovic had used the blue hardcourts at Melbourne Park as a springboard for his spectacular 2011 when he won three grand slam titles and vaulted to the world’s top ranking.
He had not dropped a set in three quick-fire wins at the year’s first grand slam but 30-year-old Hewitt was never going to do down without a fight and battled for almost three hours before Djokovic completed a 6-1 6-3 4-6 6-3 win.
“I’m not looking for excuses, but I’m saying it’s obviously the first match that I’ve been tested. It was against the player be tested,” said top seed Djokovic.
“Lleyton was playing in front of his crowd. Obviously he loves competing against the top guys on the big stage and he proved it again.”
Nishikori, trumpeted as one of the new generation of players who can challenge the establishment, stunned Tsonga, winning 2-6 6-2 6-1 3-6 6-3 to emulate countrymen Ryosuki Nunoi and Jiro Satoh who both made the last eight in 1932.
His next challenge against last year’s runner-up Murray is a daunting one though after the Scot conserved energy against Kukushkin — spending just 49 minutes on court.
“Boring” was how the Scot described his short workout.
“I thought it was best he retired because it was pointless,” the Scot added. “The people probably weren’t enjoying the match that much. I certainly wasn’t because nothing was happening.
“At this stage of the tournament to be off the court in 45 minutes or so isn’t bad,” he told reporters. “It’s perfect because you conserve energy.”
Sharapova hammered her way into the quarters but was hanging on by her fingernails in the decider, fighting off five break points in the third set against 14th ranked Lisicki.
The Russian, who won the first of her three grand slams at Wimbledon in 2004 and her last four years ago in Melbourne, still feels like time is on her side.
“Every day I feel like I wake up and I go out, I feel like I can improve, and that makes me feel young,” added the 24-year-old. “I feel like I still have a lot of energy and desire.
“Maybe the year before last I was on a steady line, maybe didn’t have that energy and passion, and everything was at a standstill. But I feel like I’ve regained that energy.”
World number two Petra Kvitova booked her place in the last eight with a 6-2 7-6 win over Serbian Ana Ivanovic but the main talking point of the Wimbledon champion’s win was an “air shot” when she lined up an easy smash.
The Czech shrugged off the embarassment of an effort more in keeping with that of a park hacker.
“I know that it looked really strange when I missed it,”
said the 21-year-old. “But anyway … I won, that’s the important thing.”