Nerves can’t beat Daria

DARIA Gavrilova fought off nerves and serious serving problems to beat French world No.13 Kristina Mladenovic in the first round of the Western and Southern Open yesterday.

The Australian won 6-0, 7-6 (8-6) to book a second round showdown with Italian qualifier Camila Giorgi.

Gavrilova acknowledged she was lucky to get through.

“I knew that Kiki didn’t play her best game (in the first set), or probably throughout the whole match, but neither did I,” she said.