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Venus rises to reach Australian Open Round 3

Melbourne - Seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams made a late charge into the Australian Open third round on Thursday, grinding out a win in her second three-set victory of the tournament.

The unseeded 38-year-old American came back strongly to beat Alize Cornet of France 6-3, 4-6, 6-0, setting up a meeting with top seed Simona Halep.

Williams, who played her first Australian Open in 1998, said she drew energy from the Melbourne Park crowd in the deciding set against world number 36 Cornet.

"The first two sets were so tough and in the second I felt I was controlling the points but just falling a little bit short," she said.

"So I tried to do the same (in the third set) and not fall a little bit short. It worked out."

The veteran has reached the final at Melbourne Park twice, most recently in 2017 when she lost to sister Serena.

The siblings could meet again in the quarter-finals if results go their way.

Results from Day 4 of the Australian Open on Thursday:

Men

Round 2

Kei Nishikori (JPN x8) bt Ivo Karlovic (CRO) 6-3, 7-6 (8/6), 5-7, 5-7, 7-6 (10/7)

Borna Coric (CRO x11) bt Marton Fucsovics (HUN) 6-4, 6-3, 6-4

Pablo Carreno-Busta (ESP x23) bt Ilya Ivashka (BLR) 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (9/7)

Fabio Fognini (ITA x12) bt Leonardo Mayer (ARG) 7-6 (7/3), 6-3, 7-6 (7/5)

Joao Sousa (POR) bt Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER x32) 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 5-7, 6-4

Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA) bt Chung Hyeon (KOR x24) 6-2, 1-6, 6-2, 6-4

Milos Raonic (CAN x16) bt Stan Wawrinka (SUI) 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (13/11), 7-6 (7/5)

Denis Shapovalov (CAN x25) bt Taro Daniel (JPN) 6-3, 7-6 (7/2), 6-3

David Goffin (BEL x21) bt Marius Copil (ROU) 5-7, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4

Daniil Medvedev (RUS x15) bt Ryan Harrison (USA) 6-3, 6-3, 6-3

Filip Krajinovic (SRB) bt Evgeny Donskoy (RUS) 6-4, 7-6 (10/8), 7-6 (7/2)

Alexei Popyrin (AUS) bt Dominic Thiem (AUT x7) 7-5, 6-4, 2-0 retired

Women

Round 2

Camila Giorgi (ITA x27) bt Iga Swiatek (POL) 6-2, 6-0

Wang Qiang (CHN x21) bt Aleksandra Krunic (SRB) 6-2, 6-3

Elina Svitolina (UKR x6) bt Viktoria Kuzmova (SVK) 6-4, 6-1

Karolina Pliskova (CZE x7) bt Madison Brengle (USA) 4-6, 6-1, 6-0

Anastasija Sevastova (LAT x13) bt Bianca Andreescu (CAN) 6-3, 3-6, 6-2

Elise Mertens (BEL x12) bt Margarita Gasparyan (RUS) 6-1, 7-5

Hsieh Su-wei (TPE x28) bt Laura Siegemund (GER) 6-3, 6-4

Madison Keys (USA x17) bt Anastasia Potapova (RUS) 6-3, 6-4

Timea Bacsinszky (SUI) bt Natalia Vikhlyantseva (RUS) 6-2, 7-5

Naomi Osaka (JPN x4) bt Tamara Zidansek (SLO) 6-2, 6-4

Zhang Shuai (CHN) bt Kristyna Pliskova (CZE) 6-3, 7-5

Simona Halep (ROU x1) bt Sofia Kenin (USA) 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 6-4

Venus Williams (USA) bt Alize Cornet (FRA) 6-3, 4-6, 6-0

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