Moite Planini
Related Articles
Rafael Nadal and Naomi Osaka’s return to court was overshadowed by the off-field drama surrounding nine-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic.
However, neither Nadal nor Osaka were deterred by the saga as they won clear sets in their respective first-round matches in men’s and women’s singles. Spain’s Nadal renewed his candidacy for the 21st men’s record Grand Slam crown, kicking off his 2022 Australian Open season on Monday with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 triumph over USA’s Marcus Giron .
Personally, I would love to see him (Djokovic) play here. Whether it’s fair for him to play here is another discussion I don’t want to talk about anymore, said sixth-seeded Nadal.
In the women’s, 13th-seeded Osaka of Japan began her title defense with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Camila Osorio of Colombia. Ashleigh Barty, who has been aiming to become the first Australian to win the cup here since 1978, started with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko.
French Open 2021 winner Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic defeated Andrea Petkovic (Germany) 6-2, 6-0, while fifth-seeded Greece Maria Sakkari trumped Germany’s Tatjana Maria 6-4, 7-6 (2). Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka of Belarus also made progress thanks to a 6-3, 6-1 win over Hungarian Panna Udvardy.
Meanwhile, 11th-seeded Sofia Kenin of the United States suffered a 7-6(2), 5-7 loss to compatriot Madison Keys. In the men’s, third-seeded Alexander Zverev (Germany) clinched a 7-6(3), 6-1, 7-6(1) win over compatriot Daniel Altmaier, while No. 7 Matteo Berrettini of Italy Brandon Nakashima (the USA) 4:6, 6:2, 7:6(5), 6:3.
0
0
