AZARENKA RETURNS TO CLAY ON A HIGH IN MADRID
But it’s lights out for Czech Berdych
MADRID: Former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka won her first match on clay in two years in the first round of the Madrid Open as she prepares to compete in the French Open for the first time since 2016.
The Belarusian, who missed a large part of last season due to a custody battle over her son, kicked off her Madrid Open campaign with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Serbian Aleksandra Krunic in the first round on Sunday.
“It’s my first match in, I don’t know, two years or whatever on clay. So that’s definitely not easy. But I’m happy that I could find a way to win, produce some good tennis at the moment,” said Azarenka.
“There is definitely a lot of things that I can improve. But it’s a start.”
Azarenka will be joined in the second round by world No.1 and defending champion Simona Halep, Spaniard Garbine Muguruza and world No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki, all of whom comfortably won their opening round encounters.
Top seed Halep made quick work of Ekaterina Makarova, beating the Russian 6-1, 6-0, while Wozniacki was almost as dominant in her 6-3, 6-1, win over Australian Daria Gavrilova.
Muguruza, the 2016 French Open winner and reigning Wimbledon champion, ousted China’s Peng Shuai with a 6-4, 6-2, and will be aiming to progress past the second round of her home tournament for the first time.
Japan’s Naomi Osaka continued her underwhelming record on outdoor clay as she lost to China’s Zhang Shuai. World number 10 Petra Kvitova, who won the Prague Open on Saturday, brushed aside Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko 6-1, 6-2.
Maria Sharapova also made a strong start with the 2014 champion outclassing Romanian Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-4, 6-1.
In the men’s event Czech Republic’s Tomas Berdych has continued his poor form this year after a 6-4, 6-2 defeat by unseeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet in the first round on Sunday.
Berdych has slipped to 17th in the rankings after failing to advance beyond the quarter-finals in all but one of his tournaments this year and will be worried about his
French Open prospects after suc- cumbing to back-to-back first round defeats on clay.
Gasquet, who reached the Monte Carlo Masters quarter-finals last month, dominate Berdych throughout the contest to reach the second round in Madrid for a fifth consecutive year.
In the only other match of the day, Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov marked his debut in Madrid with a 6-1, 6-4, win over American Tennys Sandgren to progress. The 19-year-old, who enjoyed a breakthrough season last year, has an underwhelming 12-10 win-loss record this campaign but is aiming to compete in the French Open main draw for the first time in his fledgling career.
Former world number one Novak Djokovic, the 10th seed, will open his Madrid Open campaign later yesterday with a first round clash against Japan’s Kei Nishikori.