Respite came in the form of cooler temperatures at Melbourne Park as the first Saturday of the tournament saw huge crowds roll through the gates. And they were welcomed to a feast of tennis as the third-round meetings produced some intriguing and high-profile match ups. With Rod Laver Arena being the hottest ticket in a city full of Australian Open buzz, Maria Sharapova faced off against unheralded Frenchwoman Alize Cornet.

As the match got underway, the smell of anticipation filled the air as the crowd was unsure which way the match would go. With Sharapova still showing signs of rust after a long lay-off and Cornet showing that she knows how to fight, the atmosphere inside the Arena was almost the opposite to the mood before the Williams-Hantuchova match began yesterday. A much tighter match was expected.

The courts appeared to slow in the cooler conditions as Sharapova attempted to back up her epic match against Italian Karin Knapp on Rod Laver Arena on Thursday. From the outset, she showed little interest in spending another three and a half hours on court as she broke Cornet’s fragile serve repeatedly in the first set. Sharapova dominated her lower-ranked opponent, using all components of her power game and hitting 11 winners to just 6 unforced errors, as she clinched the first set 6-1.

The story was a little different in the second set as Sharapova struggled to hold serve on the back of just a 52% first-serve percentage. This was compounded by a whopping 29 unforced errors to just 14 from Cornet. Although the crowd started to detect a change in the flow of the match, Cornet still failed to show that she had the arsenal or the game plan to take the match to a third set. Although she forced a second-set tiebreak, Cornet’s self-doubt was clear as she seemed reluctant to play her big shots. And her fate was eventually sealed with a poor forehand unforced error.

Sharapova believed that it was a combination of a drop in her intensity with an increase in Cornet’s that kept her opponent in the match. “There are a few different times where I think I could have taken control of the match,” she reflected. “One of those is in the third game of that second set where I felt like I was doing the right things, playing solid and moving forward.  And then once I lost that game I think my concentration dropped a little bit. Then I got it going again. So there were a few ups and downs and that's something that I definitely want to eliminate going forward.”

Despite the comfortable win, Sharapova retreated to the practice courts straight after the match, saying she wanted to find her rhythm which she thought was lacking during the match. “It's sometimes nice just to be able to come off the court and groove, just to get a good hit on the ball,” the Russian remarked. “Conditions were a little bit tricky from one end, and balls were flying a bit. I just wanted to get a good rhythm again.”

Although spending a little more time on court than she would have probably liked, the Russian third seed will be generally satisfied with the regulation win. She managed to make steer clear of Cornet’s reputable backhand and controlled most of the points with her cross-court forehand. But she will lament the lapses of concentration and intensity that made the match closer than it should have been.

While Sharapova patrolled Rod Laver Arena, Jelena Jankovic was locked in a tussle of her own with Japan’s Kurumi Nara on Hisense Arena. During the first week, the enigmatic Serb has yet to show that she possesses the firepower and the game plan to make it deep in the draw. While failing to do that today, Jankovic progressed to the fourth round relatively unscathed with a 6-4 7-5 win.

Both players’ unforced errors outnumbered their respective winners, yet an intriguing battle unfolded with Nara using clever variations to outflank the eighth seed at times. Each woman appeared reluctant to alter their tactics as they became locked in long baseline duels. This meant that the player that made fewer errors would ultimately be the winner. And this proved to be the case as Jankovic made 33 errors to Nara’s 43 in a match where the total points disparity was eight.

The serve statistics indicated the vast differences between the two players, for Nara’s highest first-serve speed climbed barely above the 95-mph mark. This slow serve made her vulnerable to Jankovic, who is known for an excellent return of serve. This meant that Jankovic was able to break Nara quite easily when it mattered.

At times, Jankovic’s temperament was tested as she eye-balled Nara at numerous times throughout the match in frustration as well as smugness. After the match she admitted future potential living arrangements could probably be jeopardized after defeating three consecutive Japanese players so far at the 2014 Australian Open.

“It's the Japanese Open, not the Australian Open!” laughed Jankovic. “I don't think I'll get a Visa next time I go to Japan. I hope I get someone from another country next.” 

She will, in the form of fast-rising Romanian world No. 11 Simona Halep.