Melbourne: Former champions Maria Sharapova and Angelique Kerber turned on the style to sweep into the women’s second round at the Australian Open tennis tournament here, Tuesday.
With temperatures heating up here the two Grand Slam winners wasted little time on court. Sharapova, still working her way back from a 15-month ban showed glimpses of the tennis that made her a five-time major winner.
The 2008 Melbourne Park champion, now ranked 48, battled past Germany’s Tatjana Maria 6-1, 6-4 and will next play 14th seed Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia who overcame American Varvara Lepchenko 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
“I cherish these moments. I love it here,” said the Russian, who missed last year’s tournament due to her ban. “It’s been a couple of years and I wanted it to be really meaningful to me.”
Fellow former World No.1 Kerber, who won the tournament in 2016, was also impressive in dismissing Anna-Lena Friedsam 6-0, 6-4.
“2017, I have said goodbye already, I am not looking back,” she said after a forgettable last season. “I’m just trying to enjoy it again on court,” added the German who is on a 10-match winning streak.
Sixth seed Karolina Pliskova and eighth seed Caroline Garcia also progressed. Garcia subdued Carina Witthoft 6-3, 7-5, while Pliskova had little trouble in dismantling Paraguayan Veronica Cepede6-4, 6-3.
Sydney-born British ninth seed Johanna Konta showed no signs of her recent hip injury as she dismantled Madison Brengle 6-3, 6-1. However, it was curtains for two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova who crashed out after a marathon battle with German Andrea Petkova. The latter won 6-3, 4-6, 10-8 with the third set alone lasting 88 minutes.
Meanwhile in a late evening match, World No.1 Simona Halep flirted with another early exit and suffered an ankle injury before rallying to reach the second round with a 7-6(7-5), 6-1 victory over local teenager Destanee Aiava.
The Romanian top seed was almost blown off the court by the big-hitting 17-year-old Melbourne player in the opening stanza, forced to save two set points at 2-5 and come from 1-3 down to rescue the tie-break.
“It’s been a very tough match, she was playing really well,” Halep said after the match. “I just fought back and I believed I could win this match and I did everything I could.
Other results
Lucie Safarova bt Ajla Tomljanovic 7-5, 6-3
Eugenie Bouchard bt Oceane Dodin 6-3, 7-5
Madison Keys bt Wang Quiang 6-1, 7-5
Garbine Muguruza bt Julia Ponchet 6-4, 6-2
A Radwanska bt Kristina Pliskova 2-6, 6-3, 6-2
