Tennis: Krejcikova, Kudermetova roll on in Adelaide

ADELAIDE – It was a morale-boosting win for world No. 9 Veronika Kudermetova on Tuesday, as she battled back to beat two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka and join Barbora Krejcikova in the Adelaide International 2 second round.

Kudermetova, who had a stunning 2022 in which she claimed almost 40 match wins, triumphed 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4.

“Of course, I’m really happy about this win because it means a lot against Vika,” said the 25-year-old Russian ahead of next week’s Australian Open.

“She’s a two-time Grand Slam champion, so it’s really important to play against that (level of) player and beat them.

“With every win I have a little bit more confidence.”

A resurgent Krejcikova, who was ranked as high as second in the world in 2022, won two titles and 10 of her last 11 singles matches to end the year on a roll.

She brought that form to Adelaide, beating 2022 finalist Alison Riske-Amritraj of the United States 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) to start her season.

The 2021 French Open champion, now ranked 21st, won the last four games of the opening set and secured the match in straight sets after seeing a match point slip by at 6-2, 5-4.

The Czech player’s reward is a clash with fifth seed Daria Kasatkina.

American Amanda Anisimova, semi-finalist at Roland Garros in 2019 and Wimbledon quarter-finalist in 2022, won her first tour-level match since August, overcoming error-strewn Russian Liudmila Samsonova 7-5, 6-3.

Her progress was in stark contrast to last week’s performance in Adelaide 1, where she claimed only three games in a first-round loss to Kudermetova.

China’s Zheng Qinwen set up a second-round contest with two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 victory over American Shelby Rogers.

Elsewhere, former champion John Isner and title-holder Ugo Humbert were both eliminated as the first-round upsets continued at the weather-hit Auckland Classic.

A cyclone battering New Zealand forced all matches indoors on day two, a disruption for players using the tournament as preparation for the Australian Open.

Switching to the quicker, sheltered courts appeared to favour qualifiers Gregoire Barrere and Christopher Eubanks.

Frenchman Barrere admitted it was a big factor in his 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 defeat of 37-year-old American Isner.

“This morning, when I knew we were going indoors, I was quite happy because it’s my best court,” said 88th-ranked Barrere after taming Isner’s famously formidable serve.

“Isner serves really well. Even if I only broke once, at the end, I’m happy... because against him, you only get the chance once or twice.”

Isner, the Auckland champion in 2010 and 2014, sent down 28 aces to add to his ATP Tour record tally, which has now surpassed 14,000 aces over a 17-year career.

American Eubanks won 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-3) against Frenchman Humbert, who was champion when the tournament was last staged in 2020.

In Melbourne, Dominic Thiem said he was fit and ready to make an impact at the Australian Open, despite starting preparations with defeat at the Kooyong Classic.

The 2020 finalist at Melbourne Park, who is 99th in the world as he returns from a wrist injury, showed flashes of his best in a 6-4, 6-4 loss to Australian Alex de Minaur.

The 29-year-old Thiem won the US Open in 2020 but injured his right wrist in mid-2021 and was sidelined for eight months.

“The body is good, last year was a good step in the right direction,” said the Austrian, who pushed Novak Djokovic to five sets in the 2020 Australian Open final.

“I hope I can continue in that direction this year, hopefully the Open is a good start.”

REUTERS, AFP