|
"It didn't feel great to be honest, it wasn't a good match from
my side," said Sakkari, who reached the semi-finals at the
French and U.S. Opens last year.
"But I found a way to win and sometimes that's enough and I'm
excited to be in the second round."
Sakkari, ranked third at Adelaide, won a first set that was more
keenly contested than the scoreline suggested before slumping
dramatically in the second.
Zidansek broke serve in the first game after Sakkari's
unsuccessful challenge of a line call on the final point and
backed that up by holding her own serve then breaking the Greek
again to lead 3-0.
The Slovenian continued to punish the Greek's struggles on her
own serve and claimed the second set without dropping a game.
Sakkari secured an early break in the third set to get back on
track and while Zidansek fought back hard the Greek player
eventually booked her place in the next round with another break
in the final game.
Defending champion Iga Swiatek from Poland will face a qualifier
in the opening round while top ranked Ash Barty and Aryna
Sabalenka have received byes to the second round of the $848,000
event, a warm-up for the Australian Open, which begins in
Melbourne on Jan. 17.
(Reporting by Michael Church in Hong Kong, Editing by Peter
Rutherford)
[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2022 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |
|
