Pliskova breezes into Round 2

Brisbane, January 1

Third seed Karolina Pliskova delivered a clinical performance in her first match of the year, needing just over an hour to defeat Yulia Putintseva and move into the second round of the Brisbane International.

Pliskova served up 12 aces en route to her 6-3 6-1 victory.

On a day when the WTA’s extreme heat policy came into force, Pliskova enjoyed the luxury of playing under the closed roof. Even so, the Czech kept her time on court to a minimum, reeling off 10 of the last 11 games to wrap up victory after a fraction over an hour. 

“I think I felt pretty good on the court. The roof is definitely helping,” Pliskova said. “I felt much better than on the outside courts today, definitely.”

“There are still a few things what I want to improve in the next match,” she added.

Also advancing in the top half of the draw were Shelby Rogers and Misaki Doi. Rogers finished strongly to win a see-saw battle against Eugenie Bouchard (6-2 2-6 6-1), while Doi impressively saw off Ekaterina Makarova 7-6(1) 6-4.

USA thrash Czechs in Hopman Cup opener

Perth: The United States opened their Hopman Cup campaign in style with a 3-0 win over the Czech Republic.

The American pair of Jack Sock and Coco Vandeweghe won both their singles matches to clinch the tie, and then made it a clean sweep with victory in the mixed doubles.

After Vanderweghe beat Lucie Hradecka 6-4 6-2 to open the tie, Sock then edged past Adam Pavlasek 7-5 3-6 6-3. The dead mixed doubles rubber was a relaxed affair played under the novel Fast Four format and the US came from a set down to win 2-4 4-2 4-1.

Australian firebrand Nick Kyrgios opened the new year in fine style with a powerhouse win over Spaniard Feliciano Lopez. 

But unfortunately for Kyrgios, he and teammate Daria Gavrilova, the defending champions in the mixed teams tournament, were upset by Lopez and Lara Arruabarrena, allowing the Spaniards to clinch the tie.

World No. 66 Arruabarrena had earlier levelled the tie after securing an unexpected straight sets win over Gavrilova. — Agencies