Rafa on song, Venus sent packing

Melbourne, January 15 

Top seed Rafa Nadal and world No. 3 Grigor Dimitrov progressed to the second round of the Australian Open with easy victories on Monday, while top American contenders were sent packing after shock defeats in the first round. World No. 1 Nadal cruised to a 6-1 6-1 6-1 win over Dominican Republic’s Victor Estrella Burgos while Dimitrov beat Austrian Dennis Novak 6-3 6-2 6-1 to set up second round clashes against Leonardo Mayer and Mackenzie McDonald, respectively.

Nicole Gibbs was the only American to progress from the women’s draw with last year’s finalist Venus Williams, US Open champion Sloane Stephens and CoCo Vandeweghe being the most notable Americans to exit on Day 1 at Melbourne Park.

Ryan Harrison and McDonald were the only Americans to progress to the second round of the men’s draw with seeded Jack Sock and John Isner crashing out along with surprise early exits from Croatian Borna Coric and South Africa’s Kevin Anderson.

Despite the upsets, the competition remains tough with Caroline Wozniacki, Elina Svitolina and Jelena Ostapenko victorious in their first round matches along with top men’s players Marin Cilic, Denis Shapovalov and Nick Kyrgios. — Reuters

Learning from the master

After beating Venus Williams 6-3 7-5, Belinda Bencic, 20, said featuring with Federer at the Hopman Cup had helped a lot, with the Swiss legend giving her advice and tips. “I think all the week it was so great learning from him on the court or off the court,” she said, adding she spoke to him briefly after her match and he “was very happy for me”.