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Updates from the evening session on the fourth day
Caroline Wozniacki: ‘It’s crazy it’s coming to an end’
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7.52am GMT
Elsewhere on the women’s side, Garbine Muguruza, unseeded in Melbourne after an absolutely terrible 2019, is showing signs of remembering who she actually is after a battling 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory over the Australian Ajla Tomljanovic; Karolina Pliskova, still the receiver of tennis’s great backhanded compliment of being the best women’s player not to have won a slam, won tidily, 6-3, 6-3 against the German Laura Siegemund; the sixth seed Belinda Bencic overcame the former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko 7-5, 7-5 in a see-sawing match; Donna Vekic, Maria Sharapova’s conqueror, won again, this time in straight sets against Alize Cornet; the 20-year-old American CiCi Bellis, ranked in the top 50 as a teenager but now 600 in the world and playing her first grand slam event in two years after four surgeries, knocked out the 20th seed Karolina Muchova 6-4, 6-4; and the 2016 champion Angelique Kerber and the ninth seed Kiki Bertens won’t have been too popular, because they both saw off Australian wildcards in straight sets. Kerber beat Priscilla Hon 6-3, 6-2, while Bertens defeated Arina Rodionova, 6-3, 7-5.
7.35am GMT
As touched on in the preamble, Heather Watson suffered a one-sided defeat by Belgium’s 16th seed, Elise Mertens, 6-3, 6-0. Watson is the world No 75, so there’s no shame in losing to a player significantly higher than her in the rankings, but having produced a gutsy performance against Kristyna Pliskova in the first round, she’ll be disappointed not to have shown more fight against Mertens, whom she did beat in Hobart only last week. Continue reading...