admin-winner Venus Williams.
As tennis stars digested cyclist Lance Armstrong’s doping confession, Djokovic won an entertaining clash with Czech crowd-pleaser Radek Stepanek to move towards the tournament’s first title hat-trick since the 1960s.
Sharapova turned day five’s showpiece match into a rout with her remorseless 6-1, 6-3 victory over Williams, in which she briefly threatened her third 6-0, 6-0 “double bagel” of the tournament.
Polish fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska also reached round four without dropping a set, and there were wins for China’s Li Na and former world number one Ana Ivanovic.
As Thursday’s 41 degrees Celsius (106 Fahrenheit) heat subsided, world number one Djokovic played some exhibition-style points with Stepanek but still kept enough focus to win 6-4, 6-3, 7-5. In reaching the fourth round, the Serb has won all 43 of his service games and faced just five break points, remaining the favourite as he bids to become the first man in the Open era to win the title three times in a row.
Stepanek skipped around the court, headed the ball, and used his racquet as a machine-gun as he played to the crowd at Rod Laver Arena.
But after the antics on court, Djokovic turned deadly serious when asked about Armstrong, whose long-awaited confession aired on American TV.
“He cheated the sport. He cheated many people around the world with his career, with his life story. I think they should take all his titles away because it’s not fair towards any sportsman, any athlete,” Djokovic said.
“It’s just not the way to be successful. So I think he should suffer for his lies all these years.” — AFP.
Online Reporter
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