The third-seeded Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) qualified for the second round of the Australian Open after defeating the former world’s number one Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) by 2-0 (7:6, 6:4) in 1.34 hours of play.
The Kazakhstani tennis player started the match timidly, losing the first game on her serve and delaying in the result by 0:2 with a break in the favor of her opponent. However, Elena Rybakina succeeded to return the break and to equalize the score to 2:2. Both players won their next serve games until 6:5, when Elena Rybakina received three break/set points, but Karolina Pliskova saved all of them. Thus, the set entered into a tiebreak, in which the Kazakhstani tennis player needed to save three set points before won it by 8-6.
This gave an important psychological advance for Elena Rybakina, who started the second set with an early break to lead by 3:1. This break proved to be enough for her to win the set by 6:4 and the match.
In the next round, Elena Rybakina will face Anna Blinkova (Russia), who eliminated Cristina Bucsa (Spain) after 2-0 (6:2, 6:4).
The US Open 2021 champion Emma Raducanu (Great Britain) also qualified for the second round of the Australian Open after defeating Shelby Rogers (USA) by 2-0 (6:3, 6:2).
The 5th-seeded Jessica Pegula (USA) defeated Rebecca Marino (Canada) by 2-0 (6:2, 6:4) and Ajla Tomljanovic (Australia) eliminated Petra Martic (Croatia) after 2-1 (7:6, 4:6, 6:4).
