MELBOURNE: Top seed Serena Williams and her older sister Venus led a foursome of American women into the Australian Open fourth round on Saturday, while men’s top seed Novak Djokovic survived a nervous start to overcome a feisty Fernando Verdasco.

It is the first time four women from the traditional tennis powerhouse, which has relied on the Williams sisters for much of their Grand Slam success in the past decade, have made the last 16 at a major since Roland Garros in 2013.

The sisters were joined in the last 16 by the two Madisons — Brengle and Keys, who will play each other — with the 19-year-old Keys upsetting twice Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova 6-4, 7-5 in the last match of the day and Brengle beating Coco Vandeweghe 6-3, 6-2 in an all-US match.

“I think my hands are still shaking,” said Keys, who is coached by former number one Lindsay Davenport. “I’m excited to play Maddie in the next round.”

Twice champion Victoria Azarenka also advanced after a 6-4, 6-4 victory over 25th seed Barbora Zahlavova Strycova and will now meet last year’s beaten finalist Dominika Cibulkova who beat 19th-seeded Alize Cornet 7-5, 6-2.

With Roger Federer’s surprise exit on Friday still hanging over the tournament, the men’s favourites had some nervous moments in their third round clashes on Saturday.

Djokovic was forced into a first set tie-break by former top-10 player Verdasco before winning 7-6 (10-8), 6-3, 6-4, while fifth seed Kei Nishikori also dropped the first set tie-break before he beat Steve Johnson 6-7 (7-9), 6-1, 6-2, 6-3.

Johnson and 19th-seed John Isner, who was beaten by Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller, were the last American men in the singles competition, though North America will be represented in the fourth round by Canada’s Milos Raonic.

Raonic fired 22 aces in a 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 win over Benjamin Becker and will next play Feliciano Lopez, who had a 7-6 (8-6), 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) win over Jerzy Janowicz.

Nishikori, the US Open finalist, will next meet former French Open finalist David Ferrer, who struggled to finish off 18th seed Gilles Simon in four sets while Muller beat Isner 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 to set up a fourth-round clash with Djokovic.

Djokovic’s match was temporarily halted before the third set as Verdasco took a timeout and the Serb, whose chances of a fifth Australian crown have vastly improved after Federer’s exit, said he was highly motivated and over the virus that hampered his lead up to the season’s opening Grand Slam.

“He [Verdasco] was a former top-10 player. Somebody that loves playing on the big stage, a powerful game. I’m glad to go through in straight sets,” he said.

Men’s champion Stan Wawrinka, who could meet Djokovic in the semi-finals, stayed on track with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen and will have a score to settle in the next round against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who beat Vasek Pospisil in straight sets.

Wawrinka lost to Garcia-Lopez in the first round of the French Open last year, making him the first first-time major winner in 12 years to lose in the first round of his next Grand Slam event.

While Azarenka continues to lurk as a danger to anyone in the top half of the draw, an ominous portent developed over the rest of the women’s field with the Williams’ sisters success.

The last time the siblings reached the last 16 at Melbourne Park, Serena went on to win her fifth Australian Open title. It was also the last time the 18-times grand slam winner lifted the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup.

The world number one beat Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina 4-6, 6-2, 6-0, while 18th seed Venus also needed a set to get going before she beat Italy’s Camila Giorgi 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-1 to make her first Grand Slam fourth round since Wimbledon in 2011.

“That feels fantastic especially when things happen in your life that are not in your control,” said Venus, who struggles with Sjogren’s syndrome, an auto-immune disease that can cause joint pain and fatigue. “But I don’t want to stop now, I want to keep it going.”

The 34-year old will now meet women’s sixth seed Agnieszka Radwanska who also continued her largely untroubled progress with a 6-0, 7-5 win over another American Varvara Lepchenko, while Serena will play the enigmatic Garbine Muguruza.

The hard-hitting Spaniard defeated Timea Bacsinszky 6-3, 4-6, 6-0 and beat Serena last year in the second round at Roland Garros.—Agencies

Aisam, Kudryavtseva ousted in first round

MELBOURNE: He’s advanced to the third round of the men’s doubles event at the Australian Open but Pakistan’s tennis star Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi couldn’t do the same in the mixed doubles at Melbourne Park.

Aisam and his Russian partner Alla Kudryavtseva lost in the first round of the mixed doubles event on Saturday, when they lost 6-7 (6-8), 5-7 to the team of Russia’s Daria Gavrilova and local hope Luke Saville.

The first-round loss came a day after Aisam and his Serbian partner Nenad Zimonjic advanced to the last 16 of the men’s doubles event when they overcame Spaniards Pablo Carreno Busta and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-6 (11-9), 6-4.

The eighth-seeded duo will face Frenchmen Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut for a spot in the quarter-finals on Sunday.

Aisam will now be fully focussed on advancing further in the men’s doubles event and so will be Zimonjic after the Serb also lost in the first round of the mixed doubles event on Saturday.

Zimonjic and his partner Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan were seeded sixth but suffered a shock 4-6, 7-5, 4-10 loss to Taiwan’s Su-Wei Hsieh, Taiwan and Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay.

Published in Dawn January 25th , 2015

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