Bouchard cruises in Hobart opener
Print Edition
Eugenie Bouchard provided relief from a deluge of bad injury news in the women’s game ahead of the Australian Open, as the Canadian won 6-2, 6-1 against Bethanie Mattek-Sands at the Hobart International yesterday.
The former No. 5 is on the comeback trail since sustaining a concussion when she fell in the dressing room during last year’s US Open, with the Shenzhen Open last week being her first tournament since.
Bouchard said before her first match in Hobart she had “zero expectations” for the tournament as she eases back into competitive tennis after the four-month layoff.
However, she was impressive against American veteran Mattek-Sands, just as many leading Australian Open stars deal with injuries.
Daria Gavrilova, who teamed with Nick Kyrgios to win Australia’s first Hopman Cup title in Perth last week, became the latest player to withdraw from the Sydney International yesterday, due to an abdominal injury.
“If I had a bit more time, I would be fine,” Gavrilova said. “But it’s just a bit sore, so it’s a bit of a precaution.”
Defending champion and world No. 5 Petra Kvitova withdrew from the tournament on Sunday due to a stomach virus and was joined a few hours later by No. 2-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, who cited a leg injury.
Last week, the world’s four top-ranked women retired or withdrew due to injuries: No. 1 Serena Williams (Hopman Cup/knee), second-ranked Halep (Brisbane/ankle), No. 3 Garbine Muguruza (Brisbane/foot) and fourth-ranked Maria Sharapova (Brisbane/forearm). The addition of Kvitova and Radwanska leaves the six top-ranked women all under injury clouds ahead of the Australian Open which starts on January 18.
Germany’s Angelique Kerber, ranked 10, won her first-round match in Sydney, beating Ukraine’s Elona Svitolina 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, while former US Open champion and local favorite Sam Stosur beat Roberta Vinci 4-6, 7-5, 7-5.
At the ASB Classic in Auckland, American Jack Sock took only 43 minutes to beat Victor Estrella Burgos 6-0, 6-4 to claim his place in the second round while Canada’s Vasek Pospisil ousted seventh-seed Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (4), 7-5.
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