Serena wins season-opener but US loses at Hopman Cup

AFP

Serena Williams overcame a sluggish start to power past Maria Sakkari in straight sets at the Hopman Cup on Monday in her first competitive match since her meltdown in the US Open final.

The 37-year-old was rusty and down an early break but did enough to record a comfortable 7-6 (3), 6-2 victory in 1 hour and 44 minutes in the women's singles match.

The result leveled the tie between the United States and Greece, but Williams and playing partner Frances Tiafoe later lost the mixed doubles match in three sets to Sakkari and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Even though both her ankles were strapped and she required medical attention during the change of sets, Williams moved freely and looked sharper as the match wore on.

"It was my first match back. I was making a lot of errors," Williams said. "It was great to be back out on match day."

The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion lost an exhibition match against sister Venus in Abu Dhabi last week, but the Hopman Cup is her first competitive event since her controversial defeat to Japan's Naomi Osaka at Flushing Meadows in September.

It was an error-strewn start for Williams, who struggled to land her first serve and was broken in the third game. She could have been in a bigger hole if not for saving break points in her first and third service games.

A vocal Williams tried to pump herself up in a bid to shake off the stupor and raised her arms skyward after holding serve in the fifth game. A confident Sakkari held the edge until losing her nerve attempting to close out the set in the 10th game.

Williams then found her range and dominated the tie break to wrap up the first set in 63 minutes. She broke twice in the second set and closed it out with an ace.

Williams is a two-time Hopman Cup winner, having triumphed in 2003 with James Blake and five years later alongside Mardy Fish.

In the earlier men's singles match, No.15 ranked Tsitsipas overcame a second set wobble to defeat Tiafoe 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-3. It was a confidence boost for the Greek rising star after his shock straight-sets loss to unheralded British played Cameron Norrie on Saturday.

The fancied Greece kept its tournament alive with a 4-1, 1-4, 4-2 victory in the mixed doubles after an opening defeat against Britain.

The US will battle Switzerland in a showpiece fixture on Tuesday, which pits Williams against fellow tennis legend Roger Federer in the mixed doubles.

"As a player it's something that you would dream of playing Roger Federer," Williams told reporters. "It's only mixed doubles, but still it's like a dream come true for me."

The 37-year-olds have won 43 Grand Slam singles titles between them — Federer a record 20 in men's tennis — and are arguably the best ever.

The match in Perth is expected to be a sellout.

"I really look forward to sharing the stadium with him," said Williams, who will be chasing a record-equaling 24th major at the Australian Open next month. "It's going to be special."

Their showdown has added spice, with the US' title hopes hanging by a thread after the loss to Greece.

In Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, Maria Sharapova returned to competitive tennis with a 6-2, 7-6 (3) win against Timea Bacsinszky in the first round of the Shenzhen Open on Monday.

Sharapova cut short her campaign in September to recover from shoulder complaint. The fifth-seeded Russian, a semifinalist in Shenzhen last year, hit 23 winners against the unseeded Swiss player.

Bacsinszky broke Sharapova's serve early in the first set and went 2-0 up in the second set, but the Swiss was also erratic with 11 unforced errors and four double faults.

Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam champion, next faces 17-year-old Wang Xinyu, who defeated Xun Fangying 7-6 (3), 6-4 in an all-Chinese match.

Also in the first round, Ivana Jorovic of Serbia upset second-seeded Caroline Garcia of France 6-4, 6-2 and Alison Riske of the US defeated No. 3 Wang Qiang of China 6-3, 6-3.

Russian players Veronika Kudermetova and Ekaterina Alexandrova, and Ons Jabeur of Tunisia also reached the second round.

AFP

In Brisbane, Australia, Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov and Canada's Milos Roanic ensured no slip-ups in their final outing of 2018 by having straight-set victories in their respective first-round matches at the Brisbane International on Monday.

A semifinalist here last year, Dimitrov fired down nine aces and saved six of seven break points to beat Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka 6-3, 6-4.

Milos Raonic made lighter work of his encounter against Aljaz Bedene, cruising to a 6-0, 6-3 win over the Slovenian.

In the women's draw, Australian wildcard Kimberly Birrell toppled world No. 10 Daria Kasatkina of Russia 5-7 6-4 7-6 (7-3) in their first-round match.

After trading a set each in the opening two sets, 20-year-old Birrell then fought back from 3-5 down in the deciding set to force a tiebreak, before clinching victory in just over three hours.

Birrell will next play Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko, who beat Romania's Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-0, 6-2.

It was a good day for the local hopes with qualifier Destanee Aiaiva beating France's Kristina Mladenovic 6-3, 7-6 (7-2) to set up a second-round match with US Open champion and No. 2 seed Osaka.

Also, fifth seed Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic rallied from a set and a break down to beat Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, Croat Donna Vekic cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia and Dutch No. 6 seed Kiki Bertens beat Belgium's Elise Mertens 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-4.

In Auckland, New Zealand, former world No. 5 Eugenie Bouchard launched a new season on Monday with a commanding 6-3, 6-3 win over America Madison Brengle in the first round of the ASB Classic.

The former Wimbledon finalist, looking to begin her resurgence on the women's tour after dropping to 87 in world rankings, recovered some of her best form in a convincing win. She shot to an early 3-0 lead in the first set, dropped serve on a couple of unforced errors then picked up momentum again and quickly closed out the set.

The first four games of the second set went again to serve but Bouchard was dominant again when she steadied and put her first serve in play.

Brouchard gained in confidence, sending down three unanswered aces and clinching the match against the 88th-ranked Brengle in 71 minutes. She will face either Alison van Uytvanck or qualifier Bibiane Schoofs in the second round.

Puerto Rico's Monica Puig took 74 minutes to oust American wildcard Bethanie Mattek-Sands, ranked 350, 6-3, 6-2 in a clash of former Olympic champions.

Puig won the Olympic women's singles title in Rio de Janiero in 2016 while Mattek-Sands was the mixed doubles champion at the same games. Mattek-Sands hasn't won a singles match on the WTA Tour since May.

Meanwhile, American Lauren Davies, who won the singles title in Auckland in 2017 but needed a wildcard to reach this year's main draw, advanced to the second round with a 6-, 6-2 win over Spain's Lara Arruabarrena.

Tuesday's draw is highlighted by the first-round clash of former world No. 1s Venus Williams and Victoria Azarenka and the first appearance of defending champion Julia Goerges.