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Highlights: Australian Open day one

[February 08, 2021]

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Highlights of day one of the Australian Open tennis championships at Melbourne Park on Monday. Times local (GMT +11):

2130 SABALENKA SEALS WIN IN STRAIGHT SETS

Belarusian seventh seed Aryna Sabalenka sealed a comfortable 6-0 6-4 win over 100th-ranked Viktoria Kuzmova of Slovakia to reach the second round.

World number seven Sabalenka struck 21 winners compared to eight from Kuzmova as she wrapped up the match in just over an hour.

2124 SCHWARTZMAN BEATS SWEDISH QUALIFIER

Eighth seed Diego Schwartzman overcame a mid-match wobble to beat Swedish qualifier Elias Ymer 7-6(3) 6-4 2-6 6-2 and reach the second round.

2116 KYRGIOS WINS IN STRAIGHT SETS

Australian Nick Kyrgios beat Portuguese qualifier Frederico Ferreira Silva 6-4 6-4 6-4 in the opening round at the John Cain Arena.

World number 47 Kyrgios sent down 14 aces and hit 40 winners to wrap up the match in just under two hours.

2050 KVITOVA DOWNS BELGIAN QUALIFIER

World number eight Petra Kvitova defeated Belgian qualifier Greet Minnen 6-3 6-4 to advance to the second round.

The Czech, who reached the final in 2019, struck 34 winners to down her 110th-ranked opponent, who hit 14 winners.

2019 HALEP WINS IN STRAIGHT SETS

World number two Simona Halep sealed a comfortable 6-2 6-1 victory over Australian wild card Lizette Cabrera in the first round at the Rod Laver Arena.

Romanian Halep, a 2018 finalist, hit 14 winners compared to seven from Cabrera, who is ranked 140.

1959 DIMITROV EASES PAST CILIC

Bulgarian 18th seed Grigor Dimitrov beat Croatia's Marin Cilic 6-4 6-2 7-6 (5) in the opening round.

Dimitrov, the world number 21, sent down 19 aces and hit 34 winners while Cilic managed only four aces and 26 winners.

1926 CARRENO BUSTA DOWNS NISHIKORI IN STRAIGHT SETS

Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta advanced to the second round with a 7-5 7-6(4) 6-2 win over world number 42 Kei Nishikori.

Carreno Busta, who is seeded 15th, hit 39 winners and sent down 12 aces while Nishikori recorded 36 winners and only three aces.

READ MORE:

Thiem relieved after coming into Australian Open cold

Canadian Andreescu toils to win in first match in 15 months

Age not a factor for Venus, but veteran inspires fellow pros

Distraught Monfils says trapped in "nightmare" after early exit

Former champion Kerber rues hard quarantine after early exit

Osaka gives thumbs up to electronic line judges

Serena goes 76-1 as she sails into Melbourne second round

Australian Open order of play on Monday

Penpix of the top men's contenders at the Australian Open

Penpix of the top women's contenders at the Australian Open

1826 ANDREESCU WINS FIRST MATCH AFTER 15 MONTHS OUT

Eighth seed Bianca Andreescu overcame a mid-match wobble to beat Romanian Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-2 4-6 6-3 in her first match in 15 months.

The Canadian, who was playing for the first time since retiring from the 2019 WTA Finals in Shenzhen with a knee injury, hit 27 winners compared to 11 from her opponent and wrapped up the match in just over two hours.

1742 RISKE CRASHES OUT

World number 26 Alison Riske was beaten 2-6 1-6 in the opening round by Anastasia Potapova, who is ranked 101.

The Russian teenager hit 16 winners compared to just six from Riske and wrapped up the match in 51 minutes.

1730 ZVEREV WOBBLES BUT FIGHTS BACK

Sixth seed Alexander Zverev recovered from a slow start to beat American Marcos Giron 6-7(8) 7-6(5) 6-3 6-2 on Margaret Court Arena.

The German made 19 unforced errors in the opening set and lost in a tiebreak but took control later, hitting 50 winners and 16 aces to reach the second round.

1647 THIEM BEATS KUKUSHKIN IN STRAIGHT SETS

World number three Dominic Thiem advances with a 7-6(2) 6-2 6-3 win over Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan. The Austrian third seed hit 29 winners compared to 17 from Kukushkin, who is ranked 90th.

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Venus Williams of the U.S. in action during her first round match against Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens REUTERS/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake

1535 I COULDN'T FUNCTION WITHOUT MY DAUGHTER, SAYS SERENA

"We've been together every day of her life," Serena said of three-year-old Alexis Olympia. "Is that healthy? Not at all (laughs). Not even close. But every single day I just want to be around her. It's great."

1503 10TH SEED MONFILS CRASHES OUT

Frenchman Gael Monfils was beaten 3-6 6-4 7-5 3-6 6-3 by little-known Finn Emil Ruusuvuori in one of the day's biggest upsets so far.

Monfils, the 10th seed, hit 46 winners but also made 64 unforced errors as he was dumped out in the first round for the second time in his career, the first coming in 2006.

1450 RAONIC HAILS VENUS'S COMMITMENT

"Just in general, you see Venus, she's out there on court training," said Raonic of the 40-year-old Williams. "I obviously haven't seen her when she was younger playing or the way she went about things. But she takes it incredibly seriously.

"She ... doesn't have to be out on tour other than her own desires and her own passion for the sport. I think a lot of people can draw a lot of inspiration from that."

1446 SWIATEK SWATS ASIDE RUS

French Open champion Iga Swiatek, the 15th seed, opened her account at the Australian Open with a 6-1 6-3 victory over Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands.

1418 NEAR-PERFECT PERA TOO STRONG FOR KERBER

Unseeded American Bernarda Pera stunned former champion Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-0 6-4 to reach the second round.

Pera struck 26 winners compared to just seven from Kerber as she wrapped up the biggest win of her career in just 70 minutes.

1350 WAWRINKA DOWNS SOUSA

Men's 17th seed Stan Wawrinka beat Portugal's Pedro Sousa 6-3 6-2 6-4. The Swiss sent down seven aces and hit 35 winners while Sousa made 31 unforced errors, five more than his opponent.

1346 SERENA EASES INTO SECOND ROUND

Serena Williams eased past Germany's Laura Siegemund 6-1 6-1 to reach the second round. The American hit 16 winners as she wrapped up the one-sided contest in just under an hour, and was eager to wind up her post-match interview as quickly as possible to watch the end of the Super Bowl.

"I gotta go! I gotta go! You're taking too long," she said.

1309 RAONIC EASES PAST CORIA

Canada's Milos Raonic moved into round two with a 6-3 6-3 6-2 win over Argentine Federico Coria.

Raonic, who is seeded 14th, struck 51 winners compared to just nine from his opponent and wrapped up the match in 95 minutes.

1300 VENUS BEATS FLIPKENS IN STRAIGHT SETS

Venus Williams beat Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens 7-5 6-2 to reach the second round in front of about 200 fans on Margaret Court Arena.

Flipkens made 30 unforced errors compared to just 13 by Williams, who also won more than 80% of her first-serve points.

1224 U.S. OPEN CHAMPION OSAKA THROUGH

Third seed Naomi Osaka was the first player through to the second round after a 6-1 6-2 thrashing of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

"I'm just really happy to see people in the stands. It's been a bit lonely in New York, so thank you guys," Osaka told a small crowd at Rod Laver Arena.

1109 PLAY GETS UNDERWAY AT 109TH AUSTRALIAN OPEN

Play got underway on time under leaden skies at Melbourne Park with the temperature hovering around the 17 degrees Celsius mark.

There was one locally acquired case of COVID-19 reported in the state of Victoria on Monday, a worker at a quarantine hotel not associated with the tennis.

The championships were delayed by three weeks to allow all players arriving from abroad to quarantine for two weeks.

(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, Simon Jennings and Manasi Pathak, Editing by Richard Pullin/Peter Rutherford/Andrew Cawthorne/Ed Osmond)

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