Prime-ranked Iga Swiatek survived an early check of her Australian Open title hopes when she beat former champion Sofia Kenin 7-6 (2), 6-2 within the first spherical on Tuesday.
Kenin, the winner in 2020, served for the primary set at 5-4 however couldn’t shut it out and Swiatek took it within the tiebreaker. The No. 1 seed then broke Kenin within the fifth sport of the second set and held on to clinch victory.
“Actually joyful,” mentioned Swiatek, who hit 30 winners. “It wasn’t straightforward to search out my rhythm. I felt somewhat bit off and Sofia did all the pieces to maintain it that method, large respect to her. I managed to get my degree up within the second set.”
The Polish participant is making an attempt to win her fifth Grand Slam title however her first in Melbourne.
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—@AustralianOpen
Earlier, Sloane Stephens picked up her first win on the Australian Open since 2019 when she beat wild-card entry Olivia Gadecki 6-3, 6-1. The 30-year-old American, who gained the U.S. Open in 2017, gained 5 straight video games from 2-0 down within the opening set and eased by means of the second to clinch victory in just below an hour.
Daria Kasatkina, who’s seeded 14th and subsequent performs Stephens, beat Peyton Stearns 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.
In males’s outcomes, Eleventh-seeded Casper Ruud beat Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 and Cameron Norrie defeated Juan Pablo Varillas 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.
Males’s second-ranked Carlos Alcaraz started his title bid later Tuesday. Alcaraz, final 12 months’s Wimbledon winner, performed Richard Gasquet within the final match of the evening session on Rod Laver Enviornment.
