Australian Open: Serena Williams & Djokovic win but Kvitova loses

Williams is trying to win a seventh Australian Open title

Defending champions Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams cruised into the Australian Open third round, but sixth seed Petra Kvitova was knocked out.

Women's number one Williams thrashed Taiwan's Hsieh Su-Wei 6-1 6-2 while men's top seed Djokovic beat France's Quentin Halys 6-1 6-2 7-6 (7-3).

Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova also made it through safely.

But two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova lost 6-4 6-4 to 21-year-old Australian Daria Gavrilova.

British number ones Andy Murray and Johanna Konta resume their campaigns in the second round on Thursday.

Delight for Daria

Gavrilova beat three top-10 players in 2015

Giant-killing Gavrilova, the world number 39, said she was "just really happy" after her win over Kvitova.

"It was unreal. I was so nervous in the end, you probably could tell," said the Russian-born Australian, who only switched nationality in December.

She now plays France's Kristina Mladenovic on Friday for a place in the fourth round.

Kvitova made 35 unforced errors and was broken five times in the 89-minute contest on Margaret Court Arena.

The Czech joined second seed Simona Halep and eighth seed Venus Williams in suffering a shock early exit.

Federer to face Dimitrov challenge

Federer was rarely troubled by Ukraine's Alexandr Dolgopolov, hitting 39 winners and wrapping up a 6-3 7-5 6-1 victory in an hour and 33 minutes.

The result sets up an intriguing third-round clash with Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, who was once considered a potential successor to Federer but has struggled to fulfil his potential.

"It's a tough draw," the Swiss said. "He's got the game to be really dangerous."

Who else went through?

Radwanska (right) was relieved to come through a tough match

Agnieszka Radwanska said her confidence was soaring after she overcame Canada's Eugenie Bouchard 6-4 6-2 to reach the third round.

Bouchard, rebuilding her career after a head injury at last year's US Open, showed glimpses of her old form but could not match the Pole's consistency.

Radwanska, who will play Monica Puig of Puerto Rico in the third round, said: "I'm very happy with my game today because getting Genie in the second round was not an easy match."

Japanese seventh seed Kei Nishikori was another early winner on day three as he beat American Austin Krajicek 6-3 7-6 (7-5) 6-3, and Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych beat Bosnia and Herzegovina's Mirza Basic 6-4 6-0 6-3.

Kyrgios in trouble again

Kyrgios will face sixth seed Tomas Berdych in the third round

Australian Nick Kyrgios reached the third round with a 6-4 7-5 7-6 (7-2) win over Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas, after overcoming wardrobe trouble.

The 20-year-old needed to change his shorts midway because his first pair apparently did not have pockets deep enough to hold balls while he was serving.

"Just a bit of a mix-up before the game. I guess it will be fixed by the next round," shrugged the 29th seed, whose next opponent Berdych has reached the last two semi-finals at Melbourne Park.

Kyrgios learnt before his match that he had been fined $3,000 (£2,100) for uttering an obscenity in his first-round win over Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta.

Record breaker

Czech Kristyna Pliskova - twin sister of Karolina Pliskova - served 31 aces, the most aces in a single match in WTA history (the previous record was 27) but still went out in the second round.

The left-hander ended up losing 4-6 7-6(6) 9-7 to Puerto Rico's Monica Puig, who saved five match points before progressing.

Tsonga to the rescue

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Omar Jasika of Australia 7-5 6-1 6-4

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga came to the aid of a ball girl in distress during his 7-5 6-1 6-4 win over Omar Jasika of Australia.

The ninth seed said he noticed the ball girl was unwell during the third set of his match so he walked over to see what was wrong.

He put his hand on her back, and she passed Tsonga a ball she was holding. He then looped his arm through hers and escorted her off the court.

"I saw she was in trouble," the Frenchman said. "It was normal to help her out of the stadium. I hope she's OK."

The ball girl was fine, just feeling under the weather, according to tournament organisers.

Venus fined for media snub

World number 10 and seven-times Grand Slam champion Venus Williams was given a $5,000 (£3,532) fine for failing to appear at a news conference on Tuesday.

The American, 35, did not fulfil her post-match media commitments after losing in straight sets to Britain's Konta.

Asked whether her elder sister would return to Melbourne in 2017, defending champion Serena Williams said: "I would assume. She's never mentioned anything about not being here."

Quotes of the day

"I'd say it was pretty mediocre today. It's actually something that I had to add, because I was getting really frustrated losing to my hitting partner all the time." Maria Sharapova reveals the motivation behind her new willingness to play the drop shot after beating Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus 6-2, 6-1.

Sharapova said she is over the forearm injury that disrupted her preparation for Melbourne

"They don't get so excited watching me play yet." Roger Federer on why his twin daughters were reading books rather than watching dad.

"Oh, I don't do those. I'm not good at those. I did when I was younger, and I was terrible at it. I know what I'm good at, and I know things I'm not going to excel at. I'm definitely not going to excel at that shot." Serena Williams will not be attempting a between-the-legs shot any time soon.

Eugenie Bouchard described her lightweight tank dress for the Australian Open as having "red and white stripes like an American flag or something." The Canadian then paused, before saying: "Actually, red and white like Canada, I should say. Whoops!".

"Quentin is new on the tour but definitely today he hasn't been playing like he's been just on the tour for under a year," Novak Djokovic said after beating French 19-year-old Quentin Halys. "He played some great tennis and I want to congratulate him for fighting and especially in the third set."