Russia's Maria Sharapova celebrates win over Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova in their second round match at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 18, 2018.
Russia's Maria Sharapova celebrates win over Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova in their second round match at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 18, 2018. Vincent Thian AP Photo
Russia's Maria Sharapova celebrates win over Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova in their second round match at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 18, 2018. Vincent Thian AP Photo

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Australian Open: A lookahead to Saturday, recap of Friday

The Associated Press

January 19, 2018 08:38 AM

MELBOURNE, Australia

A quick glance at the Australian Open:

LOOKAHEAD TO SATURDAY

And soon they'll be one: There are two Grand Slam singles champions left in the women's draw, and they will play each other Saturday in the third round — Maria Sharapova (2008 Australian Open winner) vs. Angelique Kerber (2016 Australian Open champion).

Sharapova, who was off the tour for 15 months serving a doping ban, has a 4-3 edge in career meetings. The first time they met was also at the Australian Open, and also in the third round, when Sharapova won in straight sets 6-1, 6-2. But Kerber has won their last two meetings, including the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2014 in three close sets. "I'm around 50 in the world at this point, so I know I'm going to be facing seeded players, first, second, third round," Sharapova said. "She (Kerber) just happens to be the next one that's in the draw that I have to play." Kerber referred to it as "another tough match. ... we've both played in the past a lot of good matches, and she's played two very good ones here." Elsewhere in the third round, top-seeded Simona Halep plays American Lauren Davis.

Defending champion Roger Federer will continue his quest for a 20th Grand Slam singles title and his sixth at Melbourne Park when he plays Richard Gasquet. Federer has won 16 of the 18 times he's played Gasquet. Six-time Australian champion Novak Djokovic, coming off an elbow injury layoff, plays Albert Ramos-Vinolas. Federer and Djokovic could meet in the semifinals, although Djokovic could have a tough fourth-round match — fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev.

__ By AP Sports Writer Dennis Passa.

___

SATURDAY FORECAST

Chance of showers, high of 26 Celsius (79 Fahrenheit)

FRIDAY'S WEATHER

Sunny and hot, high of 40 C (104 F)

ATTENDANCE

Day: 37,142; Night: 28,009; TOTAL: 65,151.

FRIDAY'S RESULTS

Men's Third Round: No. 1 Rafael Nadal beat No. 28 Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 6-3, 6-1; No. 3 Grigor Dimitrov beat No. 3 Andrey Rublev 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4; No. 6 Marin Cilic beat Ryan Harrison 7-6 (4), 6-3, 7-6 (4); No. 10 Pablo Carreno Busta beat No. 23 Gilles Muller 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-5, 7-5; No. 17 Nick Kyrgios beat No. 15 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5); No. 24 Diego Schwartzman beat Aleksandr Dolgopolov 6-7 (1), 6-2, 6-3, 6-3;

Women's Third Round: No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki beat Kiki Bertens 6-4, 6-3; No. 4 Elina Svitolina beat Marta Kostyuk 6-2, 6-2; No. 19 Magdalena Rybarikova beat Kateryna Bondarenko 7-5, 3-6, 6-1; No. 32 Anett Kontaveit beat No. 7 Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.

STAT OF THE DAY

52: number of aces by Ivo Karlovic in his five-set loss to Andreas Seppi, his second consecutive match here with 50-plus aces.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"How much do you have to pay Svitolina to have (a) one-hour lesson? I got it for free." — 15-year-old Marta Kostyuk putting a positive spin on being outclassed by her more-experienced Ukrainian compatriot in 59 minutes.