Aryna Sabalenka hits a return to Spain’s Cristina Bucsa. Photograph: AFP
BRISBANE:
“Battle of the Sexes” opponents Aryna Sabalenka and Nick Kyrgios had markedly totally different begins to their seasons on the Brisbane Worldwide on Tuesday.
Whereas Sabalenka mentioned the much-maligned exhibition had paid dividends in a straight-sets demolition of Cristina Bucsa, Kyrgios’s comeback faltered on the first hurdle as he misplaced to American Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-3, 6-4.
Sabalenka, the world primary took simply 48 minutes to eliminate Bucsa 6-0, 6-1 within the second spherical of the season-opening event.
The benefit of the win in opposition to the world quantity 50 will ship a warning to the Belarusian’s rivals forward of the Australian Open beginning January 18.
She raced via the primary set in simply 22 minutes and took solely 26 minutes to assert the second in opposition to an opponent who had no reply to the ability of the 27-year-old.
Sabalenka mentioned the truth that she performed so nicely in her first match of the season confirmed that the December 28 exhibition in Dubai in opposition to the mercurial however controversial Kyrgios had been worthwhile.
“I imply, once you play in opposition to a man, the depth is totally totally different,” she mentioned.
“Particularly when there’s Nick, who’s drop-shotting each different shot, so you progress quite a bit, so there was an incredible health for me.
“And in the present day I used to be, like, whew, let’s transfer round, you understand.”
Kyrgios is making a tentative comeback to the game after an injury-ravaged three years noticed him slip to 671 on the earth.
In his first tour degree match since March, the previous Wimbledon finalist confirmed glimpses of his expertise however lacked consistency in opposition to the stable Kovacevic.
“I really feel good and I am going to have the ability to attempt to use it as a constructing block,” Kyrgios mentioned.
Nick Kyrgios misplaced his comeback match in opposition to Aleksandar Kovacevic in Brisbane.
“That is my purpose clearly, and never simply AO (Australian Open) however this yr, for no matter this yr holds.
“I do need to proceed to play as a lot as I can, and we’ll see.”
Sabalenka will now play both Jelena Ostapenko or Sorana Cirstea within the third spherical and stays on monitor to fulfill Madison Keys within the quarter-finals in a rematch of final yr’s Australian Open closing, received by the American.
Keys reached the Brisbane third spherical with a 6-4, 6-3 win over fellow American McCartney Kessler.
Like Sabalenka, Keys had a bye into the second spherical and mentioned she had discovered it powerful to seek out her rhythm early on.
“I feel it is typically a bit bit more durable when the particular person you are taking part in has already performed a match, and you then’re form of attempting to nonetheless knock off a little bit of the rust,” she mentioned.
“I felt prefer it took a bit bit simply to seek out my rhythm, however I really feel like as soon as I did it, I form of settled in a bit bit higher.”
There was carnage among the many males’s seeds with second-seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Tommy Paul (4) and Denis Shapovalov (5) all shedding.
