Australian Open 2019, women's singles Day 2 Round-up: Osaka cruises, Halep survives a scare, Kasatkina crashes out
World No. 1 Simona Halep huffed and puffed her way into the second round after a tough opening match against Estonia's Kaia Kanepi. Meanwhile, US Open champion Naomi Osaka cruised into round two with a straight sets victory over Poland's Magda Linette.
Elina Svitolina and Karolina Pliskova also had relatively easy matches, making short work of qualifiers Viktorija Golubic and Karolina Muchova respectively to enter the second round.
Here's a look at the other significant results from Day 2 at the 2019 Australian Open:
Court 13 Round 1:
The Russian youngster and 10th seed at the Australian Open, Daria Kasatkina, suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Timea Bacsinszky in less than an hour.
Kasatkina started the match in style by going 3-0 up before a spate of double-faults led to her losing the first set 6-3. She never regained her confidence back, losing all her service games in the second set and getting wiped out with a 6-0 scoreline.
Bacsinszky managed 17 winners in the match while Kasatkina suffered nine double faults along with a poor first serve percentage of 49% which caused her downfall. Bacsinszky will meet Russian qualifier Natalia Vikhlyantseva in the second round.
Timea Bacsinszky (192) (SUI) defeats Daria Kasatkina (10) (RUS) 6-3, 6-0.
Margaret Court Arena Round 1:
Slovenia‘s Tamara Zidansek entered the second round of the Australian Open after outwitting Australia’s Daria Gavrilova in straight sets at the Margaret Court Arena in one hour and 44 minutes. She now faces the reigning US Open Champion Naomi Osaka in the second round.
Zidansek powered 30 winners in total and converted four of her seven break point opportunities to decide the match.
The Slovenian converted her third break point opportunity in the 12th game of the first set to close it 7-5 and broke the Australian’s serve in the fourth game of the second set to take it 6-3.
Tamara Zidansek (78) (SLO) defeats Daria Gavrilova (34) (AUS) 7-5, 6-3.
Margaret Court Arena, Round 1:
Veteran tennis ace Venus Williams posted her 777th career win after getting past Mihaela Buzarnescu of Romania to set up a meeting with Alize Cornet of France in the second round.
The 2017 Australian Open finalist lost the first set in a tie-break and came back from two breaks down in the second before securing it 7-6.
She stamped her authority in the final set after the Romanian lost her second service game with a double fault before breaking the eight service game to win the set and match 6-2.
Venus Williams (37) (USA) defeats Mihaela Buzarnescu (25) (ROU) 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-3), 6-2.
Melbourne Arena Round 1:
Germany‘s Laura Siegemund dealt a severe blow to the hopes of 2012 and 2013 title winner Victoria Azarenka by defeating her in two hours and 42 minutes at the Melbourne Arena. Siegemund will be up against the 28th seed Su Wei Hsieh from Chinese Taipei in the second round.
The German blasted 37 winners to Azarenka‘s 29 as both players committed 40 unforced errors each. Azarenka could not grab on to her chances despite breaking the German four times in the match.
Azarenka was broken seven times by the German as she lost the last two sets and exited from the tournament.
Laura Siegemund (110) (GER) defeats Victoria Azarenka (52) (BLR) 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-2.
Court 8 Round 1:
China’s Shuai Zhang recorded her first victory in six encounters against the 26th-ranked Dominika Cibulkova in the first round of the Australian Open.
Zhang won 35 of her 43 points on the first serve, and hit 29 winners to power past the Slovakian. She set the tempo early by breaking Cibulkova‘s serve twice in the first set to win it 6-2.
The 26th seed then broke the Chinese's serve in the ninth game of the second set to take it 4-6. But Zhang broke Cibulkova‘s serve thrice in the decider to close the match 6-2.
She will meet Krystina Pliskova of the Czech Republic in the second round.
Shuai Zhang (40) (CHN) defeats Dominika Cibulkova (26) (SVK) 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.
Court 10 Round 1:
Russia’s Anastasia Potapova enjoyed a dream debut at the 2019 Australian Open as she accounted for the 54th ranked Pauline Parmentier of France in straight sets. She will meet the 17th seed Madison Keys of the United States in the second round.
Potapova capitalized on Parmentier‘s fifth service game after the Frenchwoman failed to close out three of her game point opportunities. The Russian ended up winning the set 6-4.
Parmentier broke the Russian in her sixth service game of the second set to go ahead 4-2. Potapova, however, broke her back before converting her fourth game point opportunity in the 12th game to win the match in a tie-break.
Anastasia Potapova (90) (RUS) defeats Pauline Parmentier (54) (FRA) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).
Court 19 Round 1:
Romania’s Ana Bogdan suffered a shock defeat against lesser-known Iga Swiatek of Poland in three sets. Swiatek will face Italy’s Camila Giorgi in the second round of the Australian Open.
Swiatek connected on the ball well, producing 17 of her 40 winners from her forehand. Bogdan managed only 17 winners as Swiatek registered 12 aces and converted three of her six break point opportunities to clinch the match.
Iga Swiatek (178) (POL) defeats Ana Bogdan (81) (ROU) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.