There were no unpleasant surprises on Sunday in Melbourne for Aryna Sabalenka. The world No. 1 started her fortnight at the Australian Open in the best possible way.
On the way to a hat-trick that Martina Hingis was the last to sign in 1999, the Belarusian won 6-3 6-2 in front of Sloane Stephens (WTA 81). However, she experienced a slight scare against the winner of the 2017 US Open. After winning the first four games of the match, she had to put aside a ball of… 4-4. Once this point was won against an American who continues to run towards her glorious past, she moved on to advance towards her second round against the Spaniard Jessica Bouzas Maneiro (WTA 54).
This first day without any Swiss players in contention – Belinda Bencic, Viktorija Golubic and Dominic Stricker will play on Monday, Stan Wawrinka on Tuesday – was disrupted by the rain. The three-time winner of the Geneva Open Casper Ruud (no. 6), however, was able to slip through the drops. Under the roof of the Rod Laver Arena, the Norwegian had to go to the limit of five sets to defeat the Spaniard Jaume Munar (ATP 62) 6-3 1-6 7-5 2-6 6-1. However, he will have to raise the cursor to avoid any unpleasant surprises in a second round which should pit him against Jakub Mensik (ATP 48), this 19-year-old Czech who is already scary.
/ATS
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