ADELAIDE, Australia — World No 9 Daria Kasatkina swept into the Adelaide International second round but Paris Olympic silver medallist Donna Vekic crashed to her third straight loss of the season.
Spain’s Paula Badosa also narrowly avoided defeat, battling for nearly three hours to complete a 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 7-5 comeback win over American Peyton Stearns.
Russia’s Kasatkina, runner-up at the last two editions of the Australian Open warm-up event, broke Australia’s Olivia Gadecki five times to advance 6-2, 6-3.
“I think Adelaide is the tournament I’ve played most in my career,” said the 27-year-old, who made six WTA finals last year and won two titles.
“It’s the beginning of the season, I’m happy to be back. My tactic was to turn on my legs and win as many points as possible and play aggressively when I had the chance,” Kasatkina added according to AFP.
‘We’ve played so much and know each other’s games well. There are no secrets on the court.’
The match featured four service breaks in the first five games as third seed Kasatkina got re-acquainted with the Memorial Drive centercourt.
“I’m so tired, I went through all the emotions,” said Badosa, a former world No 2, now ranked 12.
Russia’s Kasatkina, runner-up at the last two editions of the Australian Open warm-up event, broke Australia’s Olivia Gadecki five times to advance 6-2, 6-3.
“I think Adelaide is the tournament I’ve played most in my career,” said the 27-year-old, who made six WTA finals last year and won two titles.
“It’s the beginning of the season, I’m happy to be back.
“My tactic today was to turn on my legs and win as many points as possible and play aggressively when I had the chance,” Kasatkina added according to AFP.
The match featured four service breaks in the first five games as third seed Kasatkina got re-acquainted with the Memorial Drive centre court.
She will next face last year’s Australian Open and Wimbledon junior runner-up Emerson Jones, a wildcard entry who scored an impressive 6-4, 6-0 win over China’s Wang Xinyu.
Croatia’s Vekic, a Wimbledon semifinalist last year, saw her Australian Open build-up go from bad to worse with a 6-2, 6-3 defeat to Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva.
The world number 19 was also beaten in two group matches in Perth at the United Cup.
Victory moved Putintseva into a second-round clash against either American fourth seed Danielle Collins or Tunisian wildcard Ons Jabeur, a three-time Grand Slam finalist.
“Today I played great, I was focused all the way through,” said Putintseva.
“We’ve played so much and know each other’s games well. There are no secrets on the court.”
In other matches, 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez was eliminated by Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova in three sets, with her reward a clash against American world No 8 Emma Navarro, who had a bye.
The first Grand Slam of the year begins in Melbourne next Sunday.
Naomi Osaka will undergo a scan on the injury that forced her to pull out of the Auckland Classic final but remains optimistic about playing at the Australian Open, the former world No 1 said.
Osaka, the 2019 and 2021 champion at Melbourne Park, was reduced to tears when an abdominal injury forced her to quit while leading Clara Tauson 6-4 in her first WTA final in almost three years.
“I don’t feel that it’s too serious and I still feel very optimistic about Australian Open.”
Osaka, who returned to the tour a year ago after a long maternity break, had shown glimpses of the form that won her four major titles on her run to the final in Auckland.
Elsewhere, Coco Gauff overcame second-ranked Iga Swiatek 6-4, 6-4 in the opening singles of the United Cup mixed teams tennis event and the United States went on to win the final by beating Poland 2-0.
Taylor Fritz beat Hubert Hurkacz 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (4) at the Ken Rosewall Arena as the Americans secured their second United Cup title in three years.
“It´s great to win a team event, the only team event I´ve ever won, so I´m super excited,” the third-ranked Gauff said according to AP.
The 20-year-old American won all five of her singles matches at the United Cup in straight sets, in an ideal build-up for the Australian Open starting Jan. 12.
It was also the second straight win for Gauff over Swiatek after victory on her way to winning the WTA Finals event in Riyadh in November.
“I have the belief that I´m one of the best players in the world and when I play good tennis I´m hard to beat,” Gauff said after her latest triumph.
Gauff and Swiatek are undoubtedly the two best athletes on the WTA tour and, as both players tried desperately to dictate and control the baseline, they also defended spectacularly, chasing down balls that would be certain winners against any other player, resetting points and constantly flipping defence into attack in the blink of an eye.
Although Gauff was the more solid and durable player in the opening set, Swiatek forced her way back into the match with an early break in the second.
As the quality of play climbed through the set, Gauff thrived in the important points and she won the final four games of the match against an increasingly fatigued Swiatek.
Since hiring her new coach, Matt Daly, after the US Open in September, Gauff has made incredible progress.
She has addressed her two glaring difficulties head-on, adjusting her grip on her service motion and significantly improving her forehand.
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