Serena, Pliskova Roll In Aussie Openers

January 17, 2017 | By New York Tennis Magazine Staff

American Serena Williams began her quest for a 23rd Grand Slam title on Tuesday as she kicked off her Australian Open campaign, and the world number two did so by moving past Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic 6-4, 6-3 in just one hour and 19 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.

Bencic, a former top 10 player last season before injuries caused her ranking to fall, was a tough match to open up the Grand Slam season for Serena, but the six-time Melbourne champion handled it perfectly. She broke first for the 3-1 advantage in the first set, but Bencic immediately responded with a break of her own to keep the set even.

At 5-4 up in the opening set, Serena made sure to close out the set, winning the final three points of the game to get the break and wrap up the opener.

With that momentum, Serena opened up a 5-0 cushion in the second half, and even after Bencic trimmed the deficit to 3-5, was able to close out her first round in straight sets to advance.

“I think it was pretty good,” Serena said of the opening round test. “I mean, she’s a really good player. So I think I was able to start out well.”

In the second round, Serena faces another tricky test when she squares off with Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic. The former top five player and Australian Open quarterfinalist had to save nine match points to complete a stunning 3-6, 7-6(7), 6-1 win over Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer.

Last year’s U.S. Open finalist Karolina Pliskova had no problems in her opener on Tuesday, breezing past Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-2, 6-0.

“I was a little bit nervous in the beginning, made a lot of mistakes on my forehand, missing a lot on the first serve. I want to improve on the high percentage of the first serve, definitely,” said a self-critical Pliskova. “But overall, I think in the second set my game improved a little bit. But not the best, I would say.”

The Brisbane International champion hopes she can play better tennis in the second round when she takes on Russian Anna Blinkova, who upended Romania’s Monica Niculescu 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

Third-seed Agnieszka Radwanska was able to get past Tsvetana Pironkova 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 in a tricky first round matchup. Radwnaska goes on to face Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, who won her first Australian Open main draw match since 1998 with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over China’s Qiang Wang.

Sixth-seed Dominika Cibulkova, ninth-seed Johanna Konta, 17th seed Caroline Wozniacki all won their first round matches in straight sets on Tuesday to cruise into the second round.

American Nicole Gibbs recorded an upset in her first-round match, moving past 25th seeded Hungarian Timea Babos 7-6(3), 6-4, while Heather Watson upset former finalist and 18th seeded Australian Samantha Stosur 6-3, 3-6, 6-0. 


New York Tennis Magazine Staff
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