Nadal appears far from rusty at Aussie Open

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA Rafael Nadal has missed a lot of tennis since September. But he hasn’t missed a beat.

The No. 2-seeded Nadal had a 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 win over Australian wild-card entry James Duckworth Monday in the first round of the Australian Open.

The 17-time major winner hasn’t played since retiring from his semifinal at the U.S. Open because of a knee injury. He had surgery on his right ankle in November and withdrew from a tune-up tournament in Brisbane earlier this month because of a muscle strain in his thigh to ensure he’d be fit for the season-opening major. His only hiccup came when he served for the match in the ninth game of the third set and was broken. He returned the favour quickly, though, to seal his spot in the second round.

Maria Sharapova scored a 6-0, 6-0 win, while No. 2-ranked Angelique Kerber, the 2016 Australian Open champion, opened with a 6-2, 6-2 win. Defending champion Caroline Wozniacki, 2017 U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens, No. 9 Kiki Bertens, No. 11 Aryna Sabalenka, local favourite Ashleigh Barty, No. 19 Caroline Garcia, No. 20 Anett Kontaveit, No. 24 Lesia Tsurenko, No. 29 Donna Vekic and No. 31 Petra Martic also advanced.

On the men’s side, No. 5 Kevin Anderson, No. 14 Stefanos Tsitsipas, No. 18 Diego Schwartzman, No. 19 Nikoloz Basilashvili and No. 20 Grigor Dimitrov moved into the second round.

The Canadians opened the tournament Monday night with Eugenie Bouchard of Westmount beating China’s Peng Shuai 6-2, 6-1. She now meets Serena Williams, who beat Taljana Maria of the U.S. 6-0, 6-2. Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., was playing American Whitney Osuigwe in a late match. In men’s action, No. 25 Denis Shapovalov of Toronto faced Pablo Andujar while Milos Raonic of Thornhilll, Ont., was slated to play Nick Kyrgios.