No rust or 'anxiety' for Muguruza in Sydney
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SYDNEY • Australian Open third seed Garbine Muguruza yesterday made a confident start to her season with a straight-set victory over Ekaterina Alexandrova at the Sydney Classic.
The WTA Finals champion, who had a first-round bye in Sydney, withstood a fightback from the 40th-ranked Russian in the second set to win 6-1, 7-6 (7-4).
In the quarter-finals, Muguruza will face another Russian, Daria Kasatkina, who upset Belgian Elise Mertens 6-3, 6-4.
The world No. 3 and two-time Grand Slam champion will be one of the main contenders for next week's Australian Open.
Her best result at Melbourne Park was in 2020, when she finished runner-up to surprise winner Sofia Kenin.
Playing her first match since winning the Finals in November, Muguruza said she was encouraged by the way she had stayed strong when facing five set points in the second set.
"I was most pleased that I stood very calmly in the second set when I was, you know, 5-4 down and serving and having all those set points, where you can get a little bit upset," the Spaniard said.
"So to manage the anxiety, playing the first match of the year and you want to win and you want to start on the right foot. The last match was two months ago so it's been a while."
Ons Jabeur also warmed up for the first Slam of the year by defeating two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova 6-4, 6-4.
The Tunisian had a breakthrough year last season, winning her maiden WTA singles title and also surging into the top 10 for the first time in her career.
Seeded seventh this week in Sydney, the world No. 10 came from behind in both sets to defeat Kvitova for the first time in four attempts to set up a quarter-final clash against Estonia's Anett Kontaveit, who beat Romanian Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-3, 6-1.
In the men's draw, Italian seventh seed Fabio Fognini lost to American Brandon Nakashima 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (8-6). Top-seeded Russian Aslan Karatsev beat Serbia's Miomir Kecmanovic 7-5, 6-4, while British third seed Dan Evans crushed Spaniard Pedro Martinez 6-2, 6-3.
REUTERS
SYDNEY CLASSIC
Q-finals: StarHub Ch201, 8am, noon, 4pm & Singtel TV Ch114, 11am, 5.30pm
