MELBOURNE, Australia — The match of the day did not turn out to be the match of the day.
Maria Sharapova versus Angelique Kerber was a high-profile duel between former Australian Open champions, a stylistic contrast between punch and counterpunch, a matchup that had gone the distance the previous three times they had met.
On Saturday it was a rout.
Kerber’s 6-1, 6-3 victory in the third round required just 64 minutes. That was 2 hours 40 minutes faster than the real match of the day at Rod Laver Arena. In that one, top-seeded Simona Halep shrugged off three match points to defeat the American speedster Lauren Davis, 4-6, 6-4, 15-13, in the afternoon.