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It was one of the strongest opening round draws at the Australian Open on paper, but three-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka made it look easy.
In just 68 minutes inside the Rod Laver Arena, the No.3 seed reported the back of a 6-1, 6-2 win over Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, a quarter-final in Melbourne in three of her four years. gone.
“I feel like it is the latest memory I have of playing it in the Osaka final [to win the title in 2019], so it ‘s always hard to play someone so well in the first round, “Osaka said after the game.
“For me, I feel like it would have helped in a way too because I calmed my nerves because I felt like I couldn’t be so anxious. I was expecting that because I always wanted to do well in Slams, I never wanted to lose in the first round. “
Broken just once in the overall opening-round win, Osaka dropped 13 points in eight service games and hit 18 winners.
The World No.3 is now 2-1 overall against Russia in its career, with the loss coming back in 2017. Up next, it will be against Caroline Garcia who was previously World 4 from France, who got over Polona Hercog from Slovenia, 7 -6 (6), 6-3.
Osaka and Camila Giorgi of Italy were the first two women to win Monday in Melbourne, with the latter defeating Kazakh Yaroslava Shvedova, 6-3, 6-3.
But also coming on in the first two hours of main draw was Rebecca Marino of Canada, who won 6-0, 7-6 (9) over Aussie Kimberly Birrell ‘s wild card.
More from Down Under: Serena, Venus betraying into the second round
Marino, a former World No.38 at the age of 20 in 2011, was away from the 2013-18 tour when she recovered from injuries and depression, before returning to tennis at the age of 27.
Now 30 and ranking World No.316, Marino won the Australian Open by winning three games in Dubai last month for her first Grand Slam appearance in eight years, and she needed eight match points to advance.
Swiatek goes up past Rus in Slam returns
If there was any scarf scarf from a revolution earlier than expected from last week The Gippsland Cup at Melbourne Park at the hands of Ekaterina Alexandrova, Iga Swiatek certainly didn’t show it at 1573 Arena: Arantxa Rus ’No.15 seed, 6-1, 6-3, put in an hour and 16 minutes to advance to the second round.
The French Open never faced a breakout point in the opening set, and came back from 2-0 down in the second set to get to victory, winning six of the last seven games. in the end.
In addition, the win marked revenge of all kinds for World No.17, as she lost the left-back in the opening round of the BNL d’Italia Internazionali in Rome last year.
“Basically I felt a lot better than in my first tournament here, a lot more confident,” Swiatek said after the game.
“Even though I had a few doubts because I played against Arantxa Rus in Rome, and that wasn’t a good game for me, I think I started from a modern career. I just wanted to hand the get the upper hand on the court, and I did well, so I’m happy.
“I played good tennis. I may have made decisions that weren’t perfect, like some of the dropshots, but this is the first game of the tournament as well. I hope I play better and better next time. “
Swiatek is playing her third Aussie Open in 2021 and reached the fourth round of last year’s event, nine months before making her main win in Paris.
Monday’s win extends the climb of a Polish teenager-winning Grand Slam to eight, in which she did not lose a set. In fact, Swiatek has not dropped more than four games in those 16 sets.
She will face Giorgi for a place in the third round – a repeat of a meeting held 24 months ago in the same round. That one was won by the Italian, 6-2, 6-0, with Swiatek deserving world No.177.
“I remember it was a very difficult game for me because that was the first game I played with a player who plays so fast,” Swiatek evaluated.
“I think I’ve made progress since our last game. I’m going to be ready for everything because she can play really good tennis, really fast. This surface, it’s going to help.
“We’re going to see what’s going to happen. I’m going to be ready quickly. I’m going to be ready for anything, and just going to play my tennis.”
In better success for seedless lefty against top champion, America Bernarda Pera passed No.ique seed Angelique Kerber, 6-0, 6-4.
After losing the first nine games, the three-time champions and 2016 Down Under winner struggled hard in the second set and almost pulled a level at 4-4, but at the end over there they were unable to come all the way back against the Croatia-born World. .66.
“She played really well, especially in the first set. I think I never saw her play like that,” Kerber said in a loss. “I started to feel the ball and the rhythm starting in the second set. I didn’t make many mistakes especially at the end … but she played well.
“She was good in those resting points that I hit … maybe I could have gone more for it, but in this situation, she really did service first and then hit. the second member well. “
The win is Pera’s sixth career win against a Top 30 player, and her best in terms of rankings since she defeated then-World No.22 Garcia on clay in Lausanne in 2019.