Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., who missed last year’s Australian Open, made a strong return to Melbourne Park on Sunday with a straight-set win over No. 25-ranked Marie Bouzkova of Czechia 6-2, 6-4.
Andreescu, who took one hour, 41 minutes to eliminate the 24-year-old player from Prague, had 23 service winners and only committed eight unforced errors, compared to Bouzkova’s 17.
Andreescu had two aces, two double faults and was good on 87 per cent of her first serves. She had 12 forehand winners and three on her backhand.
WATCH | Andreescu cruises into 2nd round of Australian Open:
Bianca Andreescu scored an easy 6-2, 6-4 straight sets win over No. 25-ranked Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic at the Australian Open.
Meanwhile, Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., battled for more than two hours to defeat Dusan Lajovic of Belgrade, Serbia 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 to advance to the second round.
Shapovalov cruised through the first set, then struggled in the second set and half of the third before finding his groove and finishing off the resilient Lajovic.
Later Sunday, Rebecca Marino of Vancouver faces Zhu Lin of China, while Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal plays Vasek Pospisil of Vancouver in the late game.
WATCH | Shapovalov dispatches Lajovic:
Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., defeated Dusan Lajovic of Belgrade, Serbia 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 to advance to the second round.
Gauff, Pegula, Raducanu also advance
Americans Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff and Danielle Collins reached the second round in contrasting fashion.
Third-seeded Pegula overwhelmed Jaqueline Cristian of Romania 6-0, 6-1 while seventh-seeded Gauff overcame a second-set wobble to beat Katerina Siniakova 6-1, 6-4.
Collins, the runner-up last year to Ash Barty and seeded 13th, battled a left knee injury while defeating Anna Kalinskaya 7-5, 5-7, 6-4.
A quarterfinalist in Melbourne in each of the past two years, Pegula needed just 59 minutes to get past the 161st-ranked Cristian, who was appearing in her third Grand Slam event.
“Today is just one of those days everything was working,” said the American, who will play either Czech qualifier Brenda Fruhvirtova or Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the second round.
“Always feels good when you win a match like that. I think when those days come you just kind of take it and don’t complain and don’t critique. You kind of just move on to the next one.”
Gauff, who reached her first Grand Slam singles final at the French Open last year, was given the honour of opening proceedings on Rod Laver Arena and dominated Siniakova in the first set.
The Czech player led 4-2 in the second set but Gauff rallied and clinched victory on her seventh match point.
“I was not expecting to open the tournament on Rod Laver,” Gauff said. “I’m super-honored that the tournament chose me and Katerina. I’m really pleased with myself. Katerina’s a fighter, I knew she was going to fight for every point. I just stayed strong mentally.”
Job done ✅<a href=”https://twitter.com/CocoGauff?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@CocoGauff</a> holds off Siniakova to advance 6-1 6-4.<a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/AusOpen?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#AusOpen</a> • <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/AO2023?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#AO2023</a> <a href=”https://t.co/3QQdZJxLZD”>pic.twitter.com/3QQdZJxLZD</a>
—@AustralianOpen
Gauff will now play former U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu after the British player shrugged off a bothersome left ankle issue to beat Tamara Korpatsch of Germany 6-3, 6-2.
Collins required a medical timeout for a left knee issue early in the first set of her match with Kalinskaya but survived to win in just over three hours.
Another former U.S. Open champion, Bianca Andreescu, advanced to the second round but 28th-seeded Amanda Anisimova was beaten 6-3, 6-4 by Marta Kostyuk.
Kyrgios withdraws with knee injury
Nick Kyrgios has pulled out of the Australian Open because of an injured knee, a day before he was scheduled to play his first-round match.
Kyrgios was the runner-up at Wimbledon last year in singles and the men’s doubles champion at the Australian Open and considered the host country’s strongest chance to win a title at Melbourne Park this year.
He spoke at a news conference at Melbourne Park, accompanied by his physical therapist.
Kyrgios was seeded 19th in Melbourne and was supposed to face Roman Safiullin in the first round on Tuesday.
“I’m just exhausted from everything. Obviously pretty brutal,” Kyrgios said of the decision to sit out. “One of the most important tournaments of my career. Hasn’t been easy at all.”