Four time Australian Open champion Monica Seles continued her quest for Australian Open number five with a tough 6-4 6-4 victory over Francesca Schiavone early Friday afternoon on Rod Laver Arena.
The match didn’t start well for Seles who double faulted on the first point of the match. Determined baseline play from Schiavone had the No.8 seed in early trouble, down 0-2 in under ten minutes. The American admitted to a few nerves before the match, having lost to the Italian in Perth just a few weeks ago.
“We played last week and we both knew that it was going to be a tough match.”
After cutting down on early unforced errors, Seles fought her way back with some classic baseline play and took the first set 6-4 in 44 hard-fought minutes.
Seles executed a smarter game in the second set, prevailing over the Italian and moving through to the fourth round and toward a possible meeting with Venus Williams in the quarter finals.