Eugenie Bouchard reaches 3rd round at Australian Open
Canadian made it to semifinals in Melbourne in 2014
Eugenie Bouchard is back in the third round at Melbourne Park for the first time in two years, defeating China's Peng Shuai 7-6 (5), 6-2.
Bouchard, who reached the semifinals of the Australian Open in 2014, finally closed it out after Peng saved three match points on the Canadian's serve at 5-1 in the second set on Tuesday night (Wednesday morning in Melbourne).
Following her break-out year in 2014, which also saw her reach the Wimbledon final, Bouchard struggled to make it past the fourth round at the slams. Her best result last year was the third round at Wimbledon.
Her next opponent will be either CoCo Vandeweghe or Pauline Parmentier, who played later Wednesday.
"Overall, I'm feeling better with each passing day," Bouchard said.
Fellow Canadian and men's No. 3 seed Milos Raonic will play his second-round match on Wednesday night (Thursday in Melbourne) against Luxembourg's Gilles Mueller.
Murray avoids injury scare
When Andy Murray tumbled to the court, clutching his right ankle, the top of the men's draw at the Australian Open momentarily took on a new complexion.
Top-ranked Murray, a five-time runner-up at Melbourne Park, was leading his second-round match comfortably Wednesday night when his right shoe caught on the surface in the third game of the third set, and he rolled awkwardly on the ground.
He continued and won that game, talking to himself, saying "It's not good news." He saw a trainer during the next change of ends, but decided he didn't need any extra treatment on his already heavily strapped foot.
Murray went on to win 6-3, 6-0, 6-2 against No. 156-ranked Andrey Rublev, later saying "It's a little bit sore — not too serious." "I was moving OK toward the end, so that's positive," he said.
It was Murray's 178th win in a Grand Slam match, joining Stefan Edberg at equal eighth on the list of match winners in the Open era. The 19-year-old Rublev's first-round win here was his first in a major tournament.
Murray next faces No. 31 Sam Querrey, who had 7-6 (5), 6-0, 6-1 win over 17-year-old wild card Alex De Minaur.
Federer continues 3rd-round streak
Roger Federer's progress was more straight forward, beating 20-year-old qualifier Noah Rubin 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (3) to maintain his record of never failing to reach the third round at the 18 Australian Opens he's contested.
After back-to-back wins over qualifiers, the degree of difficulty in the 17-time Grand Slam winner's comeback from a six-month injury layoff will increase exponentially. Next up, Federer faces 2010 Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych, who had a 6-3, 7-6 (6), 6-2 win over Ryan Harrison.
Also looming, potentially, is No. 5 Kei Nishikori, the 2014 U.S. Open finalist, who set up a third-round match against Lukas Lacko with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 win over Jeremy Chardy.
They're all in the same quarter of the draw as Murray.
U.S. Open champion Stan Wawrinka advanced 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 over Steve Johnson and will next play No. 29 Viktor Troicki in the lower quarter of the top half of the draw.
No. 19 John Isner, the highest-seeded U.S. player in the men's draw, lost to Mischa Zverev 6-7 (4), 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (7), 9-7 and followed Johnson, Rubin and Harrison out. Wins by No. 23 Jack Sock and Querrey ended the day on a more positive note for the American men.
No. 7 Marin Cilic and No. 14 Nick Kyrgios were beaten in night matches. Cilic lost in four sets to Daniel Evans, and No. 89-ranked Andreas Seppi rallied from two sets down and saved a match point to beat Kyrgios 1-6, 6-7 (1), 6-4, 6-2, 10-8 in a seesawing match that featured a high-risk, between-the-legs shot from the enigmatic Australian.
Defending champ Kerber staves off Witthoeft
Angelique Kerber smiled and waved her arms like an orchestra conductor as the Rod Laver Arena crowd sang "Happy Birthday" after her 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-2 second-round win.
The defending champion wasn't completely on song on her 29th birthday, angrily swiping her racket in the second set in a burst of frustration that momentarily threw her off her game — and allowed Carina Witthoeft back into the match.
Top-ranked Kerber was cool and controlled in the first set, but struggled against some deep, powerful forehands late in the second.
In the tiebreaker, she led 3-2 but double-faulted twice — once on either side of the change of ends — as Witthoeft won five straight points to level the match.
The tension mounted when she dropped her serve to open the third set, but Kerber recovered her composure and took a 4-1 lead, saving two break points in the fifth game.
"I'm always playing on my birthday — always in Australia," said Kerber, who had her major breakthrough here last year by beating Serena Williams in the final. She later won the U.S. Open and replaced Williams as the year-end No. 1. "I feel like at home here. I'm 29. I'm getting older, but I think I'll have a great day today."
Williams sisters withdraw from doubles
Speaking of age, Venus Williams had to field questions about getting older after energetic performance in her 6-3, 6-2 second-round win over Stefanie Voegele.
The 36-year-old, seven-time singles major winner played the first of her record 73 Grand Slam tournaments at the French Open in 1997. Back then, she got to play against the likes of Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova.
"I have to talk about this every interview!" Williams said. "I've played some of the greats."
"It's an honour and privilege to start that young," she added, laughing, "and play this old."
Venus and Serena Williams withdrew from a scheduled first-round doubles match later Wednesday, citing an injury to Venus' right elbow. The sisters have won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles together, including four at the Australian Open.
Venus thought she could manage the injury and play both singles and doubles, but decided she couldn't after her singles match went 83 minutes.
In the next round she'll play Duan Yingying, who beat Varvara Lepchenko 6-1, 3-6, 10-8.
With files from CBC Sports