Ongoing injury concerns for Serena Williams as Australian Open draw throws up all British tie

[ASFN Admin]

With fears over a possible Covid outbreak in Melbourne receding overnight, tournament organisers were left with a more familiar issue to worry about: Serena Williams’s fitness. Williams, who has won the Australian Open seven times, scored a narrow win over fellow American Danielle Collins overnight, but then pulled out of Saturday's semi-final against world No1 Ashleigh Barty with a right shoulder problem. In all probability, this is a precaution. Like everyone in Melbourne, Williams will be more concerned about Monday’s main event than the Yarra Valley Classic – which is only a warm-up organised to make sure everyone has some competitive preparation. Australian Open 2021: draw date, seeds, match schedule and TV details She has already won three matches this week and most would expect her to be ready to face Laura Siegemund in the year’s first major. Having said that, though, Williams is 39 and is more vulnerable to niggles than she used to be. An Achilles problem forced her to withdraw from September’s French Open, and she has admitted that she might not have been able to play in the Australian Open but for the three-week delay forced by the pandemic. The draw threw up some winnable opening matches for the British contingent. On the women’s side, Johanna Konta starts against qualifier Kaja Juvan, but could potentially run into the dangerous US Open semi-finalist Jennifer Brady in the third round. Francesca Jones – who made such a stir with her run through qualifying in Dubai – has drawn the experienced American Shelby Rogers, while Heather Watson should be happy to play left-handed Czech Krystina Pliskova after beating her in the opening round of last year’s Australian Open. Finally, Katie Boulter – who showed excellent form in the Gippsland Open this week by beating the exciting teenage prospect Coco Gauff – will take on the touch play of Daria Kasatkina. On the men’s side, the draw delivered a long shot when the only two Britons in Melbourne – Dan Evans and Cameron Norrie – wound up next to each other on the list. Evans’s confidence should be high, especially after he won two matches overnight at the Murray River Open to earn a semi-final meeting with London-based Frenchman Jeremy Chardy. In a press conference on Friday morning, Evans pointed out that Norrie had beaten in him in their most recent meeting at one of the Battle of the Brits events at the National Tennis Centre in south-west London, and slyly suggested that he would be the underdog as a result. “It’s a long way to come to play another Brit,” he joked. Meanwhile Tennis Australia said that they had found no positive tests from any of the 507 tennis personnel who had stayed at the Grand Hyatt hotel. That was the quarantine base from where a corridor-patrolling staff member went on to test positive for the more infectious British strain of Covid on Wednesday.

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