MELBOURNE, Australia — Serena Williams didn’t have to deal with any unexpected distractions today, advancing to the fourth round at the Australian Open.
Williams, who won the title here in 2003, 2005 and 2007, started play on Rod Laver Arena with a 6-1, 6-4 win over No. 41-ranked Peng Shuai of China.
The second-seeded Williams, who gave herself a “D-minus” after her last match, won the last six games of the first set without much trouble, but was broken twice early in the second.
She rallied to level at 3-3, then took a tumble when Peng wrong-footed her with a forehand cross-court winner that set up break point.
The fall seemed to wake up Williams, and she shouted “Come on!” after whacking an ace two points later and holding serve.
The nine-time major winner’s victory was routine compared with the previous day.
A half-naked streaker ran onto the court during Williams’ doubles victory with sister Venus.
“Well, first I saw him jump over and then I noticed he didn’t have underwear on,” Serena Williams said Saturday. “I thought, ‘OK, I must be seeing things.’ ”
A skirmish between ethnic rivals, the streaker and an upset loss for Ana Ivanovic combined for an extraordinary Friday.
Serbian and Bosnian fans threw chairs at each other outside Rod Laver Arena following Djokovic’s victory. As the players hugged at the net, the first of dozens of chairs flew on the lawn near a big-screen TV showing the match.
“There’s absolutely no place for that. This is a tennis match,” said Delic, who moved from Bosnia at 14 and lives in Jacksonville, Fla. “As I’m sure you all saw at the end, Novak and I are friends. We’re both competitors. In the end it was a fair match, and there was no reason for such things.”
The afternoon violence also overshadowed the night match between second-ranked Roger Federer and former No. 1 Marat Safin. The Swiss star won 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (5).
At a glance
A look at Friday’s play at the Australian Open tennis championships:
Weather: Mostly sunny, high of 86 degrees.
Attendance: Day: 39,197. Night: 24,411. Total: 63,608.
Winners: Men — No. 2 Roger Federer, No. 3 and defending champion Novak Djokovic, No. 8 Juan Martin del Potro, No. 19 Marin Cilic and No. 20 Tomas Berdych.
Women — No. 1 Jelena Jankovic, No. 3 Dinara Safina, No. 7 Vera Zvonareva, No. 10 Nadia Petrova, No. 15 Alize Cornet and No. 16 Marion Bartoli.
Losers: Men — No. 11 David Ferrer, No. 15 Stanislas Wawrinka. Women — No. 5 Ana Ivanovic, No. 11 Caroline Wozniacki and No. 19 Daniela Hantuchova.
Quote of the day: “I think we set an example as players, and the fans should follow.” — Federer, on the ethnic violence at Melbourne Park that saw chairs thrown, a woman briefly knocked unconscious, 30 fans ejected and two men charged with riotous behavior
