Kerber takes off in Rd 1 in Adelaide

SYDNEY, January 13

Former world No. 1 Angelique Kerber swept past the challenge from China’s Wang Qiang 6-1 6-3 to pick up her first win of the year at the inaugural Adelaide International today. The 2016 Australian Open champion was defeated in the opening round at Brisbane last week by Samantha Stosur but dominated her Chinese opponent from the outset.

Women’s world No. 1 Ash Barty is the top draw at the tournament and will begin her Adelaide campaign on Tuesday against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. “Every match here is a bonus. I feel like I’ve trained, done all the preparation well to put myself in a position to try and play my best tennis,” Barty said.

Hometown favourite Ajla Tomljanovic recovered from a bumpy start to beat Kazakh qualifier Yulia Putintseva 7-6(4) 6-2 in the women’s singles and set up a clash against Wimbledon champion Simona Halep in the second round.

Belinda Bencic picked up a hard-fought 6-4 6-4 win over former top-10 player Daria Kasatkina while American Sofia Kenin thrashed qualifier Viktorija Golubic 6-0 6-4.

In the men’s section, big-serving American Sam Querrey had to dig deep to beat French qualifier Gregoire Barrere 6-7(4) 6-2 7-6(5) but Brit Dan Evans continued his strong form from the ATP Cup with a 6-2 6-4 thrashing of Argentine Juan Ignacio Londero. — Reuters