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Conducting the on-court interview for Nine after Williams swept into the Australian Open fourth round with a 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 win over Russian Anastasia Potopova<\/a>, Dokic coaxed some fascinating answers out of the 23-time Grand Slam champion after softening her up with a request that she be "less brutal".<\/p>\n "I'm just hoping you'll be a little less brutal than you were when I played you because I'm still a bit nervous to interview you," Dokic said.<\/p>\n After laughing at the ice breaker, Williams revealed the inspiration for her much-talked about Australian Open outfit<\/a> and her three-year-old daughter Olympia's talent with a racquet, joking that she wanted to pair up with her in a Grand Slam doubles match one day.<\/p>\n "I've been talking to her about playing doubles here with her one day," Williams laughed as the camera panned to her faux horrified looking husband Alexis Ohanian.<\/p>\n "She technically already has an Australian Open<\/a> title (Williams was pregnant with her when she last won the season-opening Grand Slam in 2017), the trophy's usually in her room.<\/p>\n "But, you know, it was the only thing that we can do social distanced for almost a whole year of COVID is play tennis, so I was like 'I would never put my daughter in tennis' and then it's the best socially distanced sport, I think, that you can play."<\/p>\n While Williams' post-match interview was light-hearted, the match itself wasn't quite as breezy.<\/p>\n The 39-year-old, who has been in imposing form so far this tournament, admitted she hadn't "got off the starting blocks like I would have wanted to and like I have been since I've been playing here" and she very nearly dropped the first set.<\/p>\n Russian teenager Potapova looked anything but awe-struck as she broke Williams and had an opportunity to serve for the opener before Williams lifted her level, breaking back to set up a tiebreaker. From that point on the result appeared inevitable, with the veteran outclassing her opponent to run away with it in straight sets.<\/p>\n "It's about surviving and playing better every round," Williams reflected after the match.<\/p>\n She will take on seventh-seeded Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka in the fourth round on Sunday.<\/p>\n For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n
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