17th January, 2014
Four-time champions the Williams sisters pulled out of the Australian Open doubles on Friday after an injury to elder sister Venus.
The American pair withdrew from their first-round match with Kristina Mladenovic and Flavia Pennetta because of the injury to Venus’s lower left leg.
Serena Williams, seeking her sixth singles title in Melbourne, said she hoped to be back next year playing doubles with Venus. The extent of the injury was not known.
“Well, I love playing doubles, love playing with Venus, but sometimes it doesn’t work out,” said Serena after beating Daniela Hantuchova in the singles third round.
“We’ll make sure we come back and play maybe next year.”
Venus, who reached the final of this month’s Auckland Open, crashed out in the first round of the singles against Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova.
Meanwhile, Serena Williams has set a new record of 61 Australian Open wins Friday as she scorched into the fourth round — and warned she plans to get even better.
The American top seed used her powerful serve to good effect as she raced past experienced Slovak Daniela Hantuchova on another hot Melbourne day, 6-3, 6-3 in 80 minutes.
Williams, bidding for a sixth Australian Open crown, now faces either former world number one Ana Ivanovic or 2011 US Open champion Samantha Stosur for a place in the quarter-finals.
“It was a tough match. Daniela is a great opponent so I’m really happy to come out with the win,” said Williams.
“It was hot but you have to play, you have to be ready and prepare yourself mentally. I’m excited to get through.”
Hantuchova, ranked 33, was never going to be an easy opponent and she had her chances with six break points. But Williams fired down aces at crucial times, with eight in the first set alone.
The victory set a new landmark for the American veteran, who is gunning to match the achievement of Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova in winning her 18th Grand Slam.
Beating Hantuchova was her 61st win at the Australian Open, surpassing the previous record set by Margaret Court.
Asked which had been her favourite matches, she replied: “All the finals I was able to win.”
Williams, who made her Australian Open debut in 1998, also drew alongside Open-era record-holder Lindsay Davenport in playing 69 singles matches at Melbourne Park.
With a career-best 11 titles last year, the 32-year-old appears to be getting better with age and she has no plans to slow down.
“I feel like in life 32 is young, you know. In sports it’s old. But for whatever reason, I feel like I just never was really able to reach my full potential, and I feel like recently I just have been able to do a little better,” she said.
“I just keep trying to improve on everything.”