TENNIS in DEPTH.

Serena Williams’ clash with 13th seed Stosur in the next round is sure to create plenty of interest, with Stosur beating the world No 1 the last time they met.

American Williams then added fuel to the fire by accusing Stosur of being a good “framer”, implying many of her winning shots of being misshits.

“I guess she thought I hit too many frames or shanks during that match,” Stosur said after her straights set win over Italian Alberta Brianti.

“Maybe I hit a couple, but I hit with a bit of spin. Maybe she wasn’t expecting so many balls to drop in because of the spin.”

Whether she genuinely forgets or whether just wants to stay onside with Stosur’s vocal Australian fans, Williams insisted she could not recall saying anything negative about her rival.

“I don’t remember that,” she said when asked about the incident.

“She’s a good friend of mine, so I like her a lot.

“I just remember I hit some great shots and she returned them back for winners.

“It was good that we played last because I know what to expect. She’s on the up and up and is a nice girl. She has nothing to lose going into this match.

“Neither do I. It’ll be fun.”

Serena and sister Venus, meanwhile, remain on course to meet in the semi-finals of the Australian Open.

Venus was made to work hard in the second set but overcame tenacious Casey Dellacqua 6-1, 7-6 (7/4) to book her place in the second week in Melbourne.

In the end it took the sixth seed one hour, 47 minutes to subdue Dellacqua and book a fourth round meeting with 17th seeded Italian Francesca Schiavone, who upset 10th seed Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2, 6-2.

China’s Li Na was the only unseeded player to go through as she upset 22nd seed Daniela Hantuchova 7-5, 6-3, 6-2.

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Top-seeded Roger Federer, third-seeded Novak Djokovic and No. 6 seed Nikolay Davydenko were straight-set winners in third-round action at the 2010 Australian Open on Saturday.

Federer, seeking his 16th major title, defeated 31st-seeded Spaniard Albert Montanes, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, while Djokovic, who titled here two years ago, pasted Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin, 6-1, 6-1, 6-2.

The three-time Aussie Open champ Federer will face the  22nd-seeded Lleyton Hewitt.

Federer has now made it through to the round of 16 of every grand slam since losing in the third round of the 2004 French Open.

In the fourth round, Djokovic will battle Pole Lukasz Kubot, who was a walkover winner over No. 20 Mikhail Youzhny due to the Russian’s wrist injury.

Davydenko needed just one-hour, 49-minutes to get by 30th-seeded Argentine Juan Monaco, 6-0, 6-3, 6-4. The Russian will next face No. 9 seed Fernando Verdasco, who was ahead 6-1 before Austrian Stefan Koubek retired from their match.

Another high-profile match on Saturday pits 10th-seeded 2008 Aussie Open runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga against 18th-seeded German Tommy Haas.

The winner of that match will meet 26th-seed Nicolas Almagro, a 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 winner over Alejandro Falla in third-round play.

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In the round of sixteen, Yanina Wickmayer will meet her Belgian compatriot Justine Henin. There are 8 years difference in their ages, a wealth of experience separating them, and the knowledge by Wickmayer that  not only is she playing one of home country’s best players, but she is also playing against her childhood idol.

Yet the younger of the two Belgians is on a hot streak, fearless in her approach to the game of tennis, and deserving of her recent successes in the US Open and Brisbane. Without doubt she is fitter than Justine, and if their match goes to a third set, the pendulum will swing in Yanina’s favour. Henin was tired after her match with Dementieva in the 2nd round, and it showed in her 3rd. round match with Kleybanova. A better player than the Russian would have seized the opportunity and sent Henin packing. Such a player could well be Wickmayer!

If Yanina can overcome the fact that she is facing a tennis icon across the net, she can win.

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Jelena Dokic has missed out on a place in the Australian Fed Cup team to play Spain in Adelaide next month.

Samantha Stosur, Alicia Molik, Casey Dellacqua and Renae Stubbs have been selected for the tie, team captain David Taylor announced on Friday.

Taylor said the decision to leave Dokic out was in her best interests at present. The 26-year-old crashed out of the Australian Open in the first round following a disappointing start to the year.

“Jelena declared herself available. But, obviously she has had a very tough couple of weeks. Right now I think she needs to get away and sort things out in her head.

“Why put her through the scrutiny of the Fed Cup tie when she is suffering like that?” Taylor said.

Taylor has been impressed with the current form of the selected players, and was surprised by Dellacqua’s recovery in recent months.

The 24-year-old Dellacqua progressed to the third round of the Australian Open late Thursday night with a straight sets victory over Croatian Karolina Sprem.

“I saw Casey in December in Sydney. I’m really amazed how far she has come since then. She’s a different player than she was six weeks ago,” he said.

Taylor said Stosur was an obvious candidate for one singles spot, but it would be tough to pick the other.

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Andy Murray will bid to post his best ever showing at the Australian Open against John Isner after a convincing 7-5 6-1 6-4 victory over Florent Serra sealed his spot among the last 16.

The world No.5, who is yet to drop a set at this year’s tournament, has never been beyond the fourth round in Melbourne, and knows he faces his sternest test yet in the form of the 6’9” American who beat No.12 seed Gael Monfils.

Isner, bumped up to No.33 in the seedings after Gilles Simon’s late withrawal, reeled off 26 aces and hit 73 winners on his way to a 6-1 4-6 7-6(4) 7-6(5) win against the Frenchman, taking his career head-to-head record to 3-1 in the process.

“He gives guys a lot of problems – he’s 6’9” with a huge serve”

“He gives guys a lot of problems,” said Murray about his fourth round opponent, who titled for the first time in Auckland just before heading to Melbourne. “He’s 6’9” with a huge serve.”

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In a  three-and-a-half hour contest, the American seventh seed proved the more consistent to register a 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) win on Rod Laver Arena.

Roddick, who is now 8-0 for the new season after his lead-up Brisbane tournament victory, will now play Chilean 11th seed Gonzalez, who was beaten here in the 2007 final by Roger Federer.

Gonzalez came through a tough five-setter 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 against Kazak Evgeny Korolev.

Roddick, a four-time Australian Open semi-finalist, was relieved to get through to the round of 16 after dropping the opening set in a tiebreaker.

“I felt like I was real close to getting on top of the match and turning it into a little bit more comfortable. I just didn’t quite get there,” he said.

“But the only thing that matters, you’re just trying to get through a day, and that happened, so no complaints.”

In a tight match, the American earned three service breaks and left-handed Lopez just one as both players probed away in patient long rallies.

But it was Roddick’s greater groundstroke consistency that won through as the 46th-ranked Lopez committed 60 unforced errors to the American’s 21.

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US Open champion Kim Clijsters suffered an Australian Open nightmare on Friday as Nadia Petrova ended her title hopes.

Clijsters threw in one of the worst performances of her career as she was crushed 6-0 6-1 on the Hisense Arena at Melbourne Park.

Errors flowed from the Belgian star’s racquet from the outset and she lost the first set in just 18 minutes, making 17 unforced errors in the process.

Four double faults and a first-serve percentage of 41 also undermined her hopes.

The second set was more about Petrova’s high level of play, although again Clijsters did little to help her own cause.

She managed to break a run of nine straight games against her but Petrova’s dominance was soon reasserted.

Serving superbly – she lost just two points behind her first serve – Petrova did not allow her opponent to get back into the match which was over in just 52 minutes.

Quizzed about her display aftewards, Clijsters was at a loss to explain what had just happened.

“I haven’t changed anything in my whole preparations before every match,” she said. “Everything was the same, same routine, then something like this happens. That’s probably the most frustrating thing about it, is not knowing. That’s sports.”

Clijsters added: “I was completely off. I think tennis-wise, I didn’t feel the ball at all. You know, on the other hand she was good. But I made all the mistakes and she didn’t really have to do much.”

“Matches like this, maybe it happens once a year where you feel like this.”

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In an awesome display of remarkable ground strokes, court coverage, overheads and sheer guts, Alona Bondarenko ran Jelena Jankovic off the court. Jankovic did not play that badly, but today she ran into a buzz saw in the shape of Bodarenko, who if she can repeat this performance will be a legitimate contender for a spot in the top ten. This match had everything, and maybe the best quality match by two energetic women seen so far this year.

The score was not close, and there was little that Jankovic could do to slow her opponent down. The final result was a straight set win 6-2, 6-3.

Next up for Bondarenko will be unseeded Chinese player Jie Zheng.

She also caused a shock on Friday, coming from a set down to take out 11th seed Marion Bartoli 5-7 6-3 6-0.

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