Story highlights
Serena Williams powers into the fourth round with 6-1 6-1 win over Hungary's Greta Arn
Number two seed Petra Kvitova progresses after opponent Maria Kirilenko forced to retire
Maria Sharapova is also safely through after beating Germany's Angelique Kerber 6-1 6-2
Serena Williams breezed into the fourth round of the Australian Open on Saturday dispatching Hungary’s Greta Arn convincingly 6-1 6-1.
The victory sets up a match with Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova who sent seventh seed Vera Zvonareva packing in straight sets 7-6 6-1.
Despite the comprehensive nature of the American’s win, Williams said that there was still plenty of room for improvement in her game.
“You know, I just can hit a little deeper and better, be more consistent. You know, hopefully that will come as hopefully I keep playing,” the 32-year-old said, australianopen.com reported.
Number two seed Petra Kvitova will face Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic in the next round after her opponent Maria Kirilenko was forced to retire in the first game of the second set – Kvitova had won the opening set 6-0.
Ivanovic secured her passage to the second week with a 6-3 6-4 win over America’s Vania King.
Fourth seed Maria Sharapova from Russia is also safely through after beating Germany’s Angelique Kerber 6-1 6-2.
Another German awaits her in the next round after 14th seed Sabine Lisicki came from a set down to defeat 18th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova from Russia 4-6 6-4 6-2.
The only other three-setter on Saturday saw Italy’s Sara Errani also fight back from a deficit against Sorana Cirstea. The Romanian took the first set in a tie-break but Errani then assumed total control eventually running out an easy winner 6-7 6-0 6-2.
The Italian will now face China’s Jie Zheng after she dumed out ninth seed Marion Bartoli from France 6-3 6-3.