Australia Open: Serena in control as Halep and Raonic fight through Open legends

Serena Williams ventured up her drive for a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam Thursday by swatting aside Eugenie Bouchard, yet top seed Simona Halep needed to dive profound to remain in the Australian Open on multi day of epic fights. 

Aus open :The American extraordinary followed up her initially cycle 49-minute frolic by going through only 70 minutes on Rod Laver Arena to discard the Canadian 6-2, 6-2. 

"It wasn't a simple match today," said the 37-year-old. So I knew 'Serena, you must turn out hot, you must turn out terminating, she's a great player and I haven't had numerous matches since a year ago'." Williams is offering to coordinate Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slam crowns, and win an eighth in Australia, on her first come back to Melbourne Park since lifting the trophy in 2017 while pregnant. 

Six-time Melbourne Park victor Novak Djokovic is likewise hoping to leave a mark on the world by winning a seventh title and goes up against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who he beat in the 2008 last, in a night coordinate. 

Rather than Williams, world number one Halep lurched through against American Sofia Kenin 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 6-4 - her second three-set test consecutively. 

"I have no clue how I won this today around evening time, it's so difficult to clarify what occurred on court," said the French Open victor, who currently meets Venus Williams after the 38-year-old moved back the years to beat France's Alize Cornet. 

In another titanic fight, Canadian Milos Raonic removed 2014 victor Stan Wawrinka in four firmly challenged sets that all went to tie-breaks, while eighth seed Kei Nishikori was extended to a depleting five sets against Ivo Karlovic. 

Seventh seed Dominic Thiem limped out when he resigned while losing 7-5, 6-4, 2-0 to youthful Australian special case Alexei Popyrin. 

Thiem experienced a first cycle five-setter against Benoit Paire that completed in the early long periods of Wednesday morning and he never looked 100 percent. US Open hero and fourth seed Naomi Osaka had it a lot less demanding, clearing past Slovenia's Tamara Zidansek 6-2, 6-4 with the rooftop shut on Margaret Court Arena after rain intruded on the opening major of the year. 

The 21-year-old's leap forward at Flushing Meadow over Serena Williams a year ago made her another leading figure for tennis in her country, Asia and the up and coming age of ladies, and she is buckling down on satisfying the promotion. 

Vitality sapping 

"I thought I served okay, this was my first time playing her and I'm only glad to win to be straightforward," Osaka said in the wake of setting up a conflict with Taiwan's Hsieh Su-wei. 

Conversely, Asia's best positioned men's player Nishikori required a vitality sapping 3hr 48min to move beyond huge serving Croat Karlovic 6-3, 7-6 (8/6), 5-7, 5-7, 7-6 (10/7) in sticky conditions. 

"It was an intense match which could have gone both ways. He nearly had it without a doubt," said the eighth seed, a three-time quarter-finalist at Melbourne Park. 

Sixteenth seed Raonic developed the victor against Wawrinka, a three-time Grand Slam champion who is on the rebound trail from damage. 

The Swiss, unseeded out of the blue since his introduction in 2006, tumbled to the Canadian 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (13/11), 7-6 (7/5). Raonic, who got to the Australian Open semi-finals in 2016 preceding losing to Andy Murray, will next face France's Pierre-Hugues Herbert who beat a year ago's semi-finalist Hyung Cheon of South Korea. 

In spite of being seeded six and seven individually, neither Elina Svitolina or Karolina Pliskova has advanced more distant than the last eight at the Australian Open. 

Be that as it may, confident Svitolina is rising with certainty in the wake of destroying Viktoria Kuzmova 6-4, 6-1, while Pliskova woke in the wake of losing the principal set to race past Madison Brengle 4-6, 6-1, 6-0. 

Other ladies through incorporated Italy's Camila Giorgi and China's amazing 21st seed Wang Qiang. Belgium's twelfth seed Elise Mertens fixed up a third-round confrontation with American Madison Keys. Men remaining in the chase included eleventh seed Borna Coric of Croatia and Spain's 23rd seed Pablo Carreno.