Venus avoids upset bug with first-round victory
No. 13 seed takes court after Rogers stuns fourth-seeded Halep
MELBOURNE, Australia — Venus Williams went onto Rod Laver Arena right after Shelby Rogers’ upset win over fourth-seeded Simona Halep on Monday (Australia time), a result which sent the former French Open finalist out in the first round of the Australian Open again.
Back-to-back first-round exits at the season’s first major was not how Williams planned to mark her 73rd Grand Slam tournament.
The 36-year-old Williams made it two wins from two for American women on the center court at Melbourne Park on the first day, twice rallying from a break down in the first set to beat Kateryna Kozlova 7-6 (5), 7-5.
The seven-time major winner lost in the first round of the Australian Open last year to eventual semifinalist Johanna Konta. Despite her 48 unforced errors, Williams made a more positive start this time.
“It’s never easy playing the first round — you’re just trying to find the rhythm,” Williams said. “She played amazing. It’s very satisfying to get through a match against an opponent who is on fire.”
Rogers caused the first upset of the tournament, and did it on the center court, with her 6-3, 6-1 win over Halep.
Playing just her second main draw match ever at the Australian Open, the No. 52-ranked Rogers broke the 2014 French Open finalist’s serve four times. It was the second year in a row that Halep lost in the first round at Melbourne Park, and the fourth time overall.
Rogers made a surprising run to the French Open quarterfinals before losing to eventual champion Garbine Muguruza last year, when she was ranked No. 108, but only advanced to the second round at one other tournament in 2016.
Her only previous win against a top 10 player was in 2014, when she beat then No. 8-ranked Eugenie Bouchard in Montreal, but the run at Roland Garros gave her confidence.
“The biggest thing I took away from that was just that I can compete with the top players in the world and I’m good enough,” Rogers said. “So I have definitely carried that away from the French Open and just been enjoying it a little bit. There has been a lot of positive feedback, which has been nice.”
Halep, a two-time quarterfinalist in Australia, said she’d been hampered by pain in her left knee that was compounded by the pressure of the match.
Seventh-seeded Muguruza saved a set point in the first set, needed a medical timeout and had to fend off three break-point chances at 1-4 in the second set before advancing with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Marina Erakovic.
Olympic gold medalist Monica Puig raced through her opening match, beating Patricia Tig 6-0, 6-1, and No. 20 Zhang Shuai and No. 27 Irina-Camelia Begu also advanced. In two all-U.S. matches, Samantha Crawford defeated Lauren Davis 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 and Alison Riske beat Madison Brengle 7-5, 6-3.
It wasn’t always n easy, but Andy Murray has claimed his first win as a top-seeded player in a Grand Slam tournament with a 7-5, 7-6 (5), 6-2 victory over Illya Marchenko.
Murray, who took over the No. 1 ranking from Novak Djokovic late last year, has never won the Australian Open despite being a five-time finalist here, including the last two years.
Marchenko had 46 winners in the match compared to Murray’s 25, but Murray helped his cause by breaking the Ukrainian player’s service in six of eight opportunities. And Marchenko made 62 unforced errors, compared with Murray’s 27.
Destanee Aiava’s Australian n Open lasted just 92 minutes while making history as the first person born in the 2000s to play in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament.
She took away enough experience from her 6-3, 7-6 (4) loss to Mona Barthel to last a lifetime, she said.
“This isn’t the first and the last time I’m going to be here,” said Aiava, a 16-yearold Melbourne high school student who received a wild card to enter the season’s first major. “There’s plenty more to come.”
Last week, she had a short practice session with Serena Williams, the 22time Grand Slam champion and the inspiration for Aiava’s career.
“She told me to dream big and you’ll achieve big,” Aiava said.xperience to get