GARBINE Muguruza of Spain reacts during her Australian Open match against Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-Wei on Thursday.—Reuters
Swiss 19-time Grand Slam champion Federer disposed Struff , avoiding the worse of the furnace-like conditions in his night match.
“I practice with him so I had the information I needed,” he said, adding that the heat doesn’t bother him. “If you want to get to the top, you’ve got to play in all conditions.”
The heat took its toll on a host of players, including Muguruza, who suffered with heat-blistered feet. She was knocked out by 88-ranked Hsieh 7-6 (7-1), 6-4 but refused to make excuses.
“I maybe could have done things better, but at the end, she deserves to win,” she said.
Wawrinka also failed to progress, clearly still struggling from a lengthy knee injury lay-off in his straight sets defeat by Sandgren.
“I only had surgery five months ago,” said Wawrinka, who still has a visible scar running down his left knee. “To be that far already, it’s more than what we could have expected.”
Six-time champion Djokovic survived the round, but complained of the “brutal” heat in a comeback four-set win over an ailing Monfils that extended his record to 15-0 in their career head-to-heads.
Russian drawcard Sharapova was on Rod Laver Arena early and avoided the brunt of the weather as she showed why she should be again taken seriously in dismantling Sevastova 6-1, 7-6 (7-4).
Next up is in-form 2016 Australian Open champion Kerber, who had a 6-4, 6-1 win over Donna Vekic.
Still aiming for a first major, Halep, a two-time French Open finalist, held off 2014 Wimbledon finalist Bouchard 6-2, 6-2 and next plays Lauren Davis.
Thursday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):
Men’s singles:
Second round: 5-Dominic Thiem (Austria) bt Denis Kudla (US) 6-7 (6-8), 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3; 26-Adrian Mannarino (France) bt Jiri Vesely (Czech Republic) 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 5-7, 6-3; Maximilian Marterer (Germany) bt Fernando Verdasco (Spain) 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 6-3; Tennys Sandgren (US) bt 9-Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) 6-2, 6-1, 6-4; 14-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) bt Gael Monfils (France) 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-3; 21-Albert Ramos-Vinolas (Spain) bt Tim Smyczek (US) 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (7-2); Hyeon Chung (South Korea) bt Daniil Medvedev (Russia) 7-6 (7-4), 6-1, 6-1; 4-Alexander Zverev (Germany) bt Peter Gojowczyk (Germany) 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3; Julien Benneteau (France) bt 7-David Goffin (Belgium) 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1, 7-6 (7-4); 25-Fabio Fognini (Italy) bt Evgeny Donskoy (Russia) 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-1; 19-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) bt Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3; 12-Juan Martin del Potro (Argentina) bt Karen Khachanov (Russia) 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (0-7), 6-4; Marton Fucsovics (Hungary) bt 13-Sam Querrey (US) 6-4, 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 6-2; Nicolas Kicker (Argentina) bt Lukas Lacko (Slovakia) 6-2, 7-5, 1-6, 7-5; 29-Richard Gasquet (France) bt Lorenzo Sonego (Italy) 6-2, 6-2, 6-3; 2-Roger Federer (Switzerland) bt Jan-Lennard Struff (Germany) 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4).
Women’s singles:
Second round: 1-Simona Halep (Romania) bt Eugenie Bouchard (Canada) 6-2, 6-2; Lauren Davis (US) bt Andrea Petkovic (Germany) 4-6, 6-0, 6-0; 18-Ashleigh Barty (Australia) bt Camila Giorgi (Italy) 5-7, 6-4, 6-1; Naomi Osaka (Japan) bt 16-Elena Vesnina (Russia) 7-6 (7-4), 6-2; Bernarda Pera (US) bt 9-Johanna Konta (Great Britain) 6-4, 7-5; 20-Barbora Strycova (Czech Republic) bt Lara Arruabarrena (Spain) 6-3, 6-4; 29-Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) bt Sorana Cirstea (Romania) 6-2, 6-4; 6-Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) bt Beatriz Haddad Maia (Brazil) 6-1, 6-1; Su-Wei Hsieh (Taiwan) bt 3-Garbine Muguruza (Spain) 7-6 (7-1), 6-4; 26-Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) bt Lesia Tsurenko (Ukraine) 2-6, 7-5, 6-3; 21-Angelique Kerber (Germany) bt Donna Vekic (Croatia) 6-4 6-1 Maria Sharapova (Russia) bt 14-Anastasija Sevastova (Latvia) 6-1, 7-6 (7-4); Ana Bogdan (Romania) bt Yulia Putintseva (Kazakhstan) 1-6, 6-2, 6-3; 17-Madison Keys (US) bt Ekaterina Alexandrova (Russia) 6-0, 6-1; Aliaksandra Sasnovich (Belarus) bt 28-Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (Croatia) 6-3, 6-1; 8-Caroline Garcia (France) bt Marketa Vondrousova (Czech Republic) 6-7 (3-7), 6-2, 8-6.
Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2018