Tennis:Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova was given a major scare before getting her Australian Open campaign back on track today. Kvitova, who started the tournament as the title favourite, found herself a break down in the final set to Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro.
It had looked like being another routine win for a big name when Kvitova took the first set easily enough but her Spanish foe stormed back in the second.
A shock looked on the cards when Suarez Navarro broke early in the third. However, from 2-0 down in the decider Kvitova dug herself out of the hole to post a 6-2 2-6 6-4 victory in one hour and 47 minutes.
"It was OK at the beginning but then I made many, many mistakes," Kvitova said afterwards. "I can improve for sure. It was very tough to get back in the third set."
The Czech also attemped to use her struggle as a positive.
"It was very important match to have like this in this tournament," she insisted. "It was good preparation for next match. I know that I can fight and I can win if I'm playing badly."
Earlier, Serena Williamsposted her 500th career victory to progress to the third round. The 13-time Grand Slam champion reached the landmark with a 6-0 6-4 win over Barbora Zahlavova Strycovain Melbourne.
She said: "It's great. It's the ultimate. It's really, really cool. 500 is a lot of matches to play, let alone to win. The target is just to keep going. I never even thought about 500 till I got to Australia and realised after Brisbane I was at 498. I knew I was going to get to 500 sooner or later.
"Now I don't know what the next milestone is."
Williams' only real concern early on was the sun from one end which forced her to abandon her usual powerful service delivery in favour of a sliced action. But such was her domination in the rallies that her Czech opponent still failed to make any headway.
The second set was tighter with Zahlavova Strycova holding her own until a break gave Williams the chance to serve for the match.
The world number 49 had a point to make it 5-5 but Williams saw it out to move into a last-32 clash with either Dominika Cibulkova or Greta Arn.
Williams' scheduled fourth-round opponent is Vera Zvonarevaand the seventh seed moved a step closer to that clash with a 6-1 7-6 (7/3) victory over Lucie Hradecka.
Maria Sharapovadropped just two games in cruising into the third round - but the Russian then found herself defending the depth of the women's game.
Sharapova, seeded fourth, thrashed Jamie Hampton6-0 6-1 on Rod Laver Arena, duplicating her emphatic first-round victory over Gisela Dulko.
The clash with Hampton was closer than the scoreline suggests, though - Hampton reached deuce in four of the six games in the opening set - and Sharapova was irritated by suggestions there were too few serious challenges in the early rounds of grand slam events.
She said: "You never know what you're going to get. Sometimes we come out and we play three-set matches from the beginning and then it's a question of 'You're top five in the world, why is someone challenging you to three sets from the beginning?'
"I think it's just an excuse to make another story. That's really what it all comes down to.
"My goal is to go into a match and play my game. If I do it well enough and come out winning 6-0, 6-1, then I've done a good job."
Of the lower seeds, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova(15) lost 6-4 in the third set to Vania King, Brisbane winner Kaia Kanepi (25)was upset 6-2 7-5 by Ekaterina Makarovaand Nadia Petrovawas well beaten by Sara Errani.
However, former world number one Ana Ivanovicprogressed thanks to a 6-2 6-3 win over Michaella Krajicek, while 14th seed Sabine Lisickialso won comfortably.