Agnieszka Radwanska [4] (Pol) beat Heather Watson (GB) 6-3 6-1
Heather Watson was up against it from the start against Radwanska who has yet to drop a set in 2012, Heather had dropped more sets in the last game alone then Radwanska has all year round but her battling performances in Round 1 & 2 got her through to a well earned match with the 4th Seed, Watson started well in the first game after being 0-30 down on serve, her serve game to the rescue and Radwanska made some rare errors before Watson sealed her hold with a backhand winner, the hold for Watson was followed with an even better hold by Radwanska as she held to love to level things up in the first set, Watson then followed Radwanska's love hold with a love hold of her own after sealing it with an Ace and was showing clear signs of improvement from when the pair met at Wimbledon last year, in Radwanska's next service game Watson had 2 break points but couldn't take them as Radwanska typically played her way out of trouble forcing watson out wide with a great serve and then on the final break point Watson went wide and Aga won the next 2 points to hold and make it 2-2, Radwanska showed the quality of her forehand in the next game as he earned herself 3 break points Watson saved the first 2 but Radwanska wouldn't let the third one go as a perfectly times forehand down the line gave her the first break of the game, Aga held serve and then broke again after earning 3 points after some great defensive play from Watson's angled shots, Watson gifted Radwanska another break after a double fault in the second straight awful service game in a row for her, Aga who was now serving for the set at 5-2 found herself broken for the first time by Watson after her backhand could only find the net on break point as Watson kept herself in the set at 5-3 however in the next game Watson couldn't do enough to see of Radwanska as an attempted smash finds the net to give Radwanska break point, Watson's second serve is met by a great Radwanska forehand winner as she takes the first set 6-3, Radwanska's composed and Accurate gameplan was proving to be to much for Watson who seemed to be more rushed on shots, Watson gave a good account of herself in the first set though as she stayed in rallies well with Radwanska but was lacking the variety to really trouble the pole.
A chance presented it's self for Watson straight away in the first game of the second set as she earned herself a break point in deuce but can only find the net with a forehand she earned herself another break point after a smash but again Radwanska shows her qualities under pressure as she attempts a perfect drop shot from the baseline which Watson reaches but can't do enough to get it off the floor, Radwanska closed out the first game after Watson went wide and then some great shot making undone the battling Watson, in the next game Radwanska made the best shot of the match and probably one of the best of the tournament so far as she somehow managed to get her racquet on a powerful driven forehand by Watson and directs it through the middle of the court and sees out the game after some great serves and poor footwork from Watson to break and lead 2-0, Radwanska races into a 5-0 lead as she continues to read Watson's shots like a book and her stylish play around the court is just to much for Watson to contend with as Watson is continued to be broke easily, Watson did win a game and deservedly so as she held to make it 5-1 before Radwanska served out the match in a convincing win but even though Watson was beat well today some would say the scoreline is a bit harsh as many points Aga won Watson stayed in them well and didn't take the important break points at the right times in the match as for Aga she continues her impressive run.
Ana Ivanovic [13] (Ser) beat Jelena Jankovic [22] (Ser) 7-5 6-3
It's no secret that these two players haven't always seen eye to eye, mostly due to the commitments Jankovic has to the Serbian team and how she thinks Ivanovic isn't committed enough, it's been a while since both of these players enjoyed grand slam success and both of them only have 1 grand slam to their name and were at one point #1 in the world, it was Ivanovic who showed much more of that old #1 form that Jankovic did early on in the match as she conquered Jankovic in almost every long shot rally that they had, some of the quality of the points were amazing and Ivanovic was showcasing just how good she can be when she was on form, she continued to push Jankovic across the baseline with cross court forehands and raced into a 5-2 lead but Jankovic came back to level things at 5-5 before Ivanovic held and broke again in a composed finish to the 1st set to take it 7-5, the quality was surprising to see from Ivanovic her movement looked the best it has been in a while despite the ankle injury she has, in the second set Ivanovic took control of the set with another break and outplayed Jankovic once again in the long rallies and pushed her back forcing her into difficult shots, Ivanovic overcame her serb teammate in the end in an impressive display as she continues her her good form in 2013
"It's competitiveness," said Ivanovic, who will next meet Radwanska. "You have that with everyone you play - and especially someone coming from your country. We were (once) both looking for the number one position and to win a Grand Slam.
"Of course there is going to be rivalry, but I think there is healthy rivalry too because you kind of push each other."
Maria Sharapova [2] (Rus) beat Venus Williams [25] (USA) 6-1 6-3
Sharapova who had cruised to back to back perfect score 6-0 6-0 matches in the first 2 rounds certainty knew that there was almost no chance of that happening against Venus but she still hammered her veteran opponent in straight sets to book her place into the 4th round, Sharapova broke Williams straight away in the very first game as Venus looked shakey on serve and not serving with any real conviction at all, Sharapova was returning well and pushing Venus wide and forcing her to find the net on many occasions, her forehand looked perfect all match and her serve was keeping good as it had been in the first 2 rounds, It was only when Sharapova was 4-0 that Venus finally took a game but it was to little to late as Sharapova won the next 2 to take the set in style 6-1, Sharapova's returning was again on point in the second set and Venus couldn't find any real flow to her service game, an early break for Sharapova with great backhand play gave her the break early on in the second set and she never looked back from there, Sharapova did however get broken by Williams when serving for the match but the damage was already done long before then as she finally held and won with an Ace.
Novak Djokovic (Ser) beats Radek Stepanek (Cze) 6-4 6-3 7-5
Novak Djokovic again won in straight sets to continue his bid to win the Australian Open for the third time in a row, his 34 year old opponent was up for the fight and also up for a few jokes as he turned his back for the bum shot as Djokovic went for a smash, Stepanek made it hard work for Djokovic at times as he played some excellent forehand shots and used his creativity well to work all match, it was good watching him forward instead of playing on the baseline to much charging near the net at every chance he got, Djokovic saw out the game in just over 2 hours but Stepanek went down fighting in the third set and narrowly lost 7-5
David Ferrer [4] (Spa) beat Marcos Baghdatis [28] (Cyp) 6-4 6-2 6-3
David Ferrer easily overcame Marcos Baghdatis in straight sets despite making hard work for himself in the first set as he got himself into a 4-1 lead and looking a certainty to win the first set, Baghdatis came back to level things at 4-4 before Ferrer composed himself and held and broke Baghdatis in probably the most important 2 games in the whole match, Ferrer couldn't do much wrong from there as he only dropped 5 games in the final 2 sets
Men's Third Round Scores: Day 5
Novak Djokovic (1) defeated Radek Stepanek (31); 6-4, 6-3, 7-5
David Ferrer (4) defeated Marcos Baghdatis (28); 6-4, 6-2, 6-3
Tomas Berdych (5) defeated Jurgen Melzer (26); 6-3, 6-2, 6-2
Janko Tipsarevic (8) defeated Julien Benneteau (32); 3-6, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3
Nicolas Almagro (10) defeated Jerzy Janowicz (24); 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-4), 6-1
Stanislas Wawrinka (15) defeated Sam Querrey (20); 7-6 (8-6), 7-5, 6-4
Kei Nishikori (16) defeated Evgeny Donskoy; 7-6 (7-3), 6-2, 6-3
Kevin Anderson defeated Fernando Verdasco (22); 4-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2
Women's Third Round Scores: Day 5
Maria Sharapova (2) defeated Venus Williams (25); 6-1, 6-3
Agnieszka Radwanska (4) defeated Heather Watson; 6-3, 6-1
Angelique Kerber (5) defeated Madison Keys; 6-2, 7-5
Li Na (6) defeated Sorana Cirstea (27); 6-4, 6-1
Ekaterina Makarova (19) defeated Marion Bartoli (11); 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-4
Ana Ivanovic (13) defeated Jelena Jankovic (22); 7-5, 6-3
Julia Goerges (18) defeated Zheng Jie; 6-3, 1-6, 7-5
Kirsten Flipkens defeated Valeria Savinykh; 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
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