Maria Sharapova suffers first round exit at Australian Open
In the first Grand Slam Australian Open of the year, the phase of vicissitudes continued on the second day. The second day of the tournament, it was led by former champion Maria Sharapova. She had to face defeat in the first round on Tuesday. On the other hand, Simona Halep and Karolina Pliskova started off with victories in the tournament. In men’s singles, Rafael Nadal has also reached the second round. This was Sharapova’s third straight first round exit in a Grand Slam. The former World number 1 will now fall out of the top 350 when the rankings are next released. Sharapova who won her only Australian Open in 2008 had entered the tournament as a wildcard courtesy her Grand Slam champion status.
The Australian Open saw the second day of upsurge. Sharapova was defeated by Donna Vecich of Croatia 6-3, 6-4. She has reached the finals of this tournament thrice in 2007, 2012 and 2015. Earlier on Monday, Venus Williams crashed out of the tournament after suffering a reversal.
Meanwhile, Wimbledon champion Simona Halep, world number-2 Carolina Pliskova and two-time Grand Slam champion Garbine Muguruza have moved into the second round in the women’s singles. Halep of Romania defeated Jennifer Brady of America 7-6, 6-1. Second seed Pliskova defeated France’s Kristina Mladenovic 6-1, 7-5 and Spain’s Muguruza defeated America’s Shelby Rogers 0-6, 6-1, 6-0. Belinda Bencic defeated Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-3, 7-5 and Madison Keys defeated Daria Kasatkina 6-3, 6-1 to advance to the second round.
World number-1 Spain’s Rafael Nadal has reached the second round of the men’s singles. He defeated Hugo Dellien of Bolivia 6–2, 6–3, 6–0 in the first round. Apart from Nadal, Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka, Austria’s Dominic Thiem, Italy’s Fabio Fognini, Spain’s Fernando Verdasco, Croatia’s Marin Cilic and Canada’s Milos Raonic have also been successful in crossing the first round hurdle.
Wawrinka defeated Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina 7-5, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4. Dominic Thiem defeated France’s Adrian Mannarino 6-3, 7-5, 6-2. 12th seed Fognini defeated Reilly Opelka of America 3-6, 6-7, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 and Verdasco beat Evgeny Donskoy of Russia 7-5, 6-2, 6-1. Cilic won the match against France’s Corentin Moutet 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. The 32nd seed Raonic won 6–1, 6–2, 6–3 against Lorenzo Giustino of Italy.
