TENNIS NOTEBOOK
Canadian Miloss Raonic followed up his victory at the Brisbane International with a clinical, 6-1, 6- 4, 6- 4 firstround win over Lucas Pouille on Monday at the Australian Open. Raonic, who at No. 13 has his lowest seeding at a Grand Slam tournament since Wimbledon 2013, is aiming to improve on his run to the quarter- finals here last year, when he lost to eventual champion Novak Djokovic. The 25-yearold from Thornhill, Ont., who recently started working with former No. 1- ranked Carlos Moya as a coach, didn’t face a break point on his serve and had little difficulty in winning 8- 9 per cent of points on suc cessful first serves.
A resurgent Eugenie Bouchard continued her injury comeback w-ith a straight-sets win Mon day in first-round action at the Australian Open. The 21-yearold from Westmount, Que., dispatched Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic 6-3, 6-4 in just over an hour. She hit 14 winners in the match and had 14 unforced errors. The 37th-ranked Bouchard is playing in only her fourth tournament since sustaining a concussion when she fell in the dressing room at last year’s U.S. Open. She will next face the f-ourth seed, Agnieszka Radwanska, in second-round play. Radwanska advanced with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Christina McHale of the United States. Earlier this month, Bouchard made it to the quarter-finals at the Shenzen Open and then followed that up by reaching the final at the Hobart International.
In men’s singles, Canadian Vasek P-ospisil was elimin ated after falling in four sets to France’s Gilles Simon. The 25-year-old from Vancouver dropped a 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 decision to his 14th-ranked opponent in a match that lasted two hours 47 minutes. Unforced errors cost Pospisil heavily — he had 55 of them to just 18 for Simon. Pospisil used his powerful serve to win the first set in 45 minutes. Trailing 3-1 in the second set, Pospisil called a medical timeout and went through stretching exercises on his lower body with a trainer, but returned to play. Simon went on to win the set in 52 minutes as Pospisil made 17 more unforced errors compared to the Frenchman’s three. Simon needed only 31 minutes to win the third set and 39 minutes to take the fourth. Serena Williams arrived at the Australian Open having not finished a competitive match for months. She withdrew from the Hopman Cup because of inflammation in her knee, playing just one set in Perth. “I haven’t played in a long time, but I have been playing for 30 years, so it’s kind of — I try to focus on that,” Williams said after getting through her firstround match with a 6- 4, 7- 5 win over 34th- ranked Camila Giorgi. “I was able to stay in it and stay calm today and I think that’s what matters most.” Maria Sharapova, who lost to Williams in the final here last year and could meet her again in the quarter-finals, showed no signs of a left forearm injury that curtailed her preparations when she beat Nao Hibino 6-1, 6-3 in a night match.
Former No. 1- ranked Caroline Wozniacki lost 1- 6, 7- 6 ( 3), 6- 4 to Yulia Putintseva, continuing a- downward spiral at Mel bourne Park that has resulted in her exiting one round earlier each year since she reached the 2011 semifinals. No. 24 S- loane Stephens, a semifinal i-st in 2013, lost 6-3, 6-3 to Chi nese qualifier Wang Qiang.
Nineteen-year- old wild- card entry Noah Rubin got the biggest win of his career, upsetting 17th- seeded Benôit Paire of France 7- 6 (4), 7- 6 ( 6), 7- 6 ( 5) for his first Grand Slam victory. The No. 328th- ranked Rubin received a wild card into the main draw as part of a reciprocal agreement between the U.S. and Australian tennis associations.