Australian Open glance: Venus Williams vs Halep in 3rd round

Posted January 18, 2019 6:00 am

The Associated Press

Romania's Simona Halep celebrates after defeating United States' Sofia Kenin in their second round match at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) The Associated Press

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - A quick look at the Australian Open:

LOOKAHEAD TO SATURDAY

Top-ranked Simona Halep has beaten Venus Williams in their two most recent matches. Williams won their first three matches, and on Saturday they'll meet in a Grand Slam singles match for the first time. "She's very consistent on the court and in her results," Williams says of Halep. "So throughout the year she's playing at a really high level. That's what keeps her ranking up." Venus' sister Serena Williams plays Dayana Yastremska in another third-round match, and U.S. Open champion Naomi Osaka takes on Hsieh Su-wei. In men's third-round play, top-seeded Novak Djokovic, after beating former finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, has another major test when he plays Denis Shapovalov. The next highest seed in Djokovic's half, No. 4 Alexander Zverev, plays Australian wild-card entry Alex Bolt, who beat No. 29 Gilles Simon in the second round.

SATURDAY'S FORECAST

Mostly sunny, high of 23 Celsius (73 Fahrenheit)

FRIDAY'S WEATHER

Rain delayed play on outside courts for 2 ˆ½ hours and forced the roofs on the three main show courts to be closed early in the day.

FRIDAY'S KEY RESULTS

Men's 3rd round: No. 3 Roger Federer beat Taylor Fritz 6-2, 7-5, 6-2; No. 14 Stefanos Tsitsipas beat No. 19 Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7), 6-4; Tomas Berdych beat No. 18 Diego Schwartzman 5-7, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4.

Women's 3rd round: No. 30 Maria Sharapova beat No. 3 Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 4-6, 6-3; No. 5 Sloane Stephens beat No. 31 Petra Martic 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5); Amanda Anisimova beat No. 11 Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 6-2; No. 15 Ashleigh Barty beat Maria Sakkari 7-5, 6-1.

KEY MATCHES TO COME FRIDAY : No. 2 Rafael Nadal vs. Alex de Minaur; No. 2 Angelique Kerber vs. Kimberly Birrell.

STAT OF THE DAY

100 - number of singles matches Federer has played at Rod Laver Arena.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"It's not easy to play these kind of players that you've been watching for so long, and you finally get to play them" - Tsitsipas on his next match against Federer.

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More AP Tennis: https://www.apnews.com/apf-Tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

United States' Venus Williams celebrates after defeating France's Alize Cornet in their second round match at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Andy Brownbill) The Associated Press

Serbia's Novak Djokovic celebrates after defeating France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga during their second round match at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, Jan. 18, 2019.(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) The Associated Press

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