Australian Open: Serena Williams & Roger Federer through

Serena Williams and Roger Federer made swift progress as the leading names were untroubled in the third day session of the Australian Open.

Women's top seed Williams beat Taiwan's Hsieh Su-Wei 6-1 6-2 on Rod Laver Arena before men's second seed Federer saw off Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3 7-5 6-1.
"Conditions are extremely quick, so you're not going to find much rhythm," he said. "I thought I served great."

Maria Sharapova beat Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-2 6-1.
Novak Djokovic plays Quentin Halys in Wednesday's late session, while British number ones Andy Murray and Jo Konta resume their campaigns in the second round on Thursday.
Japanese seventh seed Kei Nishikori was another early winner on day three as he beat American Austin Krajicek 6-3 7-6 (7-5) 6-3, and Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych beat Bosnia and Herzegovina's Mirza Basic 6-4 6-0 6-3.
Ukraine's Kateryna Bondarenko caused an upset with a 6-1 7-5 win over Russian 23rd seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, winner of the Sydney title last week.

 

Venus fined for media snub

World number 10 and seven-times Grand Slam champion Venus Williams was given a $5,000 (£3,532) fine for failing to appear at a news conference on Tuesday.
The American, 35, did not fulfil her post-match media commitments after losing in straight sets to Britain's Jo Konta.
Williams was fined $3,000 by the International Tennis Federation at last year's French Open for skipping her media duties following a first-round defeat by Sloane Stephens.
Asked whether her elder sister would return to Melbourne in 2017, defending champion Serena Williams said: "I would assume. She's never mentioned anything about not being here, not competing."

Kyrgios in trouble again

Australian Nick Kyrgios has been fined $3,000 (£2,100) after he was heard to utter an obscenity in his first-round win over Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta on Monday. Kyrgios plays Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas later on Wednesday.
Had the incident happened at a regular ATP World Tour event, rather than a major, Kyrgios would be close to triggering a 28-day ban.
The 20-year-old has a suspended ban after being sanctioned for making lewd remarks about Stan Wawrinka's girlfriend in August at the Montreal Masters.
The 28-day suspended ban would be triggered if he received further fines totalling $5,000 (£3,500) before 24 February.
He was fined $1,500 (£1,000) for an audible obscenity late last year in Shanghai.
But Wednesday's fine does not count towards the total as it happened at a major.

GB women set up doubles clash

  Watson and Konta will travel to Eilat for the Fed Cup straight after the Australian Open


Konta might have had a day off from singles duties, but she found the time to make progress in the doubles as Britain's women provided a Fed Cup boost.
The world number 47 teamed up with Heather Watson to beat 16th seeds Gabriela Dabrowski and Alicja Rosolska 6-1 7-6 (9-7) in the first round.
Britain's number one and two move on to face compatriots Jocelyn Rae and Anna Smith, who defeated China's Chen Liang and Shuai Peng 3-6 6-2 7-6 (7-2).
Fed Cup captain Judy Murray will be keeping a close eye on that one, with all four players in her squad to travel to Israel for the gruelling Euro-Africa Zone tournament straight after Melbourne.

Sharapova said she is over the forearm injury that disrupted her preparation for Melbourne.