Serena marches on to reach fourth round

Second seed Williams had far too many weapons for the 92nd-ranked Gibbs, who appeared overawed by the occasion at a sun-drenched Rod Laver Arena. 

Later, Britain’s Johanna Konta firmed up as one of the title favourites when she powered into the fourth round on Saturday, comfortably seeing off former world number one Caroline Wozniacki 6-3 6-1 on Margaret Court Arena. 

The ninth seed, who is yet to drop a set in the tournament, broke the Dane midway through the first set with a smoking drop shot and never looked back, keeping the pressure up throughout the 75-minute contest. 

The 25-year-old will next face Ekaterina Makarova at Melbourne Park as she continues her quest to give Britain its first women’s grand slam singles champion in four decades. 

Konta said was looking forward to another ‘battle’ against 30th seed Makarova, who she beat in the fourth round last year on her way to the semi-finals in Melbourne.

Sania Mirza and Rohana Bopanna advanced to the mixed doubles second round with respective partners at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Saturday. 

Bopanna and his Canadian partner Gabriela Dabrowski had to dig deep to beat Michael Venus and Katarina Srebotnik 6-4 6-7, 10-7 in a super tie-breaker. Later, second seeded pairing of Mirza and Croatia’s Ivan Dodig got the better of Laura Siegemund and Mate Pavic 7-5, 6-4. 

In the girls’ singles first round, Zeel Desai overcame a stiff challenge from local hope Kaitlin Staines 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.