Watson back in form with flying start to Hobart bid
● British No 2 sees of Romanian in two sets and now faces Australian wild card
Heather Watson scored an encouraging straight-sets win over Romania’s Sorana Cirstea in the first round of the Hobart International. The 25-yearold, who won the tournament in 2015, held firm to win the first set despite dropping her serve three times, before going on to triumph 7-5, 6-3.
It was a good return to form by the British No 2, who was beaten in the first round of the Brisbane International last week. Watson will now face Australian wild card Jamiee Fourlis in the second round.
Meanwhile, sloane stephens’ preparations for the Australian Open suffered another setback as she was bundled out of the Sydney International in the first round. The reigning US Open champion fell 6-3, 6-0 to Italian qualifier Camila Giorgi, extending her winless streak since she won her first major at Flushing Meadows in September.
Giorgi, the world No 100, raced away with the second set to book a second-round meeting with Petra Kvitova, who progressed when opponent Mirjana Lucic-baroni retired after losing the first set 6-1.
There was better news for fellow grand slam champion Angelique Kerber, who squeezed through with a 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (8/6), 6-2 victory over Czech Lucie Safarova, saving two match points in the process.
Slovakia’sdominikacibulkova proved too strong for Anastasija Sevastova, of Latvia, easing to a 6-3, 6-1 win in 77 minutes, while Ashleigh Barty defeated Paraguayan qualifier Veronica Cepede Royg 6-3, 6-4.
Also in Sydney, there were wins for American qualifier Cece Bellis, Kiki Bertens of Holland and Czech Barbora Strycova.
At the Hobart International, top seed Shuai Zhang, of China, moved through to round two with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Magda Linette, of Poland.
Tatjana Maria was another seed to fall as she lost 6-4, 6-2 to Croatia’s Donna Vekic.
Eugenie Bouchard’s woe’s continued as the Canadian, now down to 83 in the world rankings, fell 6-4, 6-3 to Aryna Sabalenka, of Belarus.
Also in Hobart there were wins for second seed Elise Mertens, fifth seed Lesia Tsurenko, Anna-lena Friedsam, Kirsten Flipkens, Marketa Vondrousova, as well as Fourlis.
On the ATP tour, fifth seed Adrian Mannarino booked his place in the second round of the Sydney International with a hard-fought win over Russian qualifier Evgeny Donskoy.
The Frenchman was broken twice as he lost the first set but rallied to grind out a 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 win over the world No 71 after two hours and 20 minutes of action.
Lucky loser Ricardas Berankis seized his second chance with a 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 win over Australian wild card Alex Bolt, while there were also wins for Daniil Medvedev and John Millman.
At the ASB Classic in Auckland, seventh seed David Ferrer booked his place in round two with a 7-6 (9/7), 6-4 win over China’s Yibing Wu.
Fifth seed Roberto Bautista Agut eased past wild card Michael Venus 6-2, 6-1, and Portugal’s Joao Sousa needed two hours to dispatch Donald Young 6-7 (8/6), 6-4, 6-2.
There were also first-round wins for Russia’s Karen Khachanov and Canada’s Denis Shapovalov, over Yuichi Sugita and Rogerio Dutra Silva respectively.