Coco Gauff of the USA celebrates her victory (Photo by William West/AFP)
The American pair of Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff began their Australian Open 2023 campaign with a straight win on Monday
- AFP Melbourne
- Last Update: January 16, 2023, 08:56 IST
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Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff served an early warning at the Australian Open with straight sets wins on Monday as Rafael Nadal prepares to return to the scene of his biggest Grand Slam triumph.
The in-form third seed Pegula beat 161st-ranked Romanian Jacqueline Cristian 6-0, 6-1 in a 59-minute match at the Margaret Court Arena.
Fellow American Coco Gauff, seeded seven, was equally explosive in the second round, beating Czech Katerina Siniakova 6-1, 6-4 on neighboring Rod Laver Arena.
Gauff reached the top of her first Grand Slam of the year after winning her third WTA title at the Auckland Classic this month, while Pegula was boosted by upsetting world number one Iga Swiatek at the United Cup.
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Gauff said, “I am honored that the tournament has decided to select me and Katerina to open at Rod Laver Arena.”
Gauff now faces a tough second-round clash against former US Open champion Emma Raducanu, who beat German Tamara Korpatsch 6-3, 6-2, barely 10 days after the British star was in tears with an ankle injury. Was out of the Auckland event.
But the two seeds lost at the first hurdle, 25th seed Czech Marie Bouzkova and American 28th seed Amanda Anisimova.
Top seed Swiatek later launched her campaign for a maiden Melbourne Park title and said she was ready for an “intense” match against Germany’s Jule Niemeyer, the world number 69 who reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon last year. Number one player.
The pair’s last meeting was in the last 16 of the 2022 US Open, where Swiatek lost the first set before coming back 2-6, 6-4, 6-0 to win his third Grand Slam title.
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Rafael Nadal’s tough test in the early stages
Defending men’s champion Nadal will face 21-year-old Briton Jack Draper, who reached the semi-finals in Adelaide last week, on Center Court later in the afternoon.
But the top seed, who extended that record to 22 titles at Roland Garros, is struggling for form and admits Draper will be a tough test.
Nadal, world No. 40, said of Draper, “probably one of the toughest first rounds… young, strong, rising very quickly in the rankings, playing well.”
Before she takes her bow, Greek sixth seed Maria Sakkari faces China’s Yuan Yu, ranked world number 117.
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Daniil Medvedev has been the Australian Open runner-up for the past two years, losing first to Djokovic in 2021 and then to Nadal 12 months ago.
The seventh-seeded Russian will kick off the first night’s session on Rod Laver against 60th-ranked American Marcus Giron.
Also on Monday are men’s third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, who plays 64th-ranked Frenchman Quentin Hallis, and last year’s women’s runner-up, American 13th seed Danielle Collins, who starts against Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya. Huh.
Victoria Azarenka, the Belarusian 2012 and 2013 winner, will also play Sofia Kenin, whose only Grand Slam title came in 2020 in Australia.
Novak Djokovic, who was detained ahead of last year’s tournament and refused to be vaccinated for COVID-19, launched his campaign for a record 10th Australian Open title on Tuesday.
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