Murray wins thriller; Kvitova bows out

MELBOURNE, Jan 18: Andy Murray dipped into the depth of his defensive skills to tame big-hitting Nikoloz Basilashvili during a thrilling 6-1 3-6 6-4 6-7(5) 6-4 win on Tuesday to reach the second round of the Australian Open for the first time in five years.

The former world number one, a five-time finalist at Melbourne Park, has seen his ranking plummet since hip surgery in 2019 and long injury layoffs that followed and needed a wildcard into the main draw of this year's tournament.

The 113th-ranked Murray, who won the last of his three major titles at Wimbledon in 2016, showed he still had the game to trouble top players on the tour and forced the 21st seed from Georgia into making a litany of errors.

It was Murray's first match at Melbourne Park since a five-set defeat by Roberto Bautista Agut in 2019. He skipped the 2018 and 2020 tournaments with injury and also missed the last edition after testing positive for COVID-19 in the leadup. Murray will next meet Japanese qualifier Taro Daniel for a place in the third round at the year's first major.

Greek world number four Stefanos Tsitsipas put on a clinical show against familiar opponent Mikael Ymer of Sweden during a 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 victory in the opening round.

The Greek will next meet Argentina's 21-year-old Sebastian Baez, ranked 88th, for a place in the third round.

Britain's teenage sensation Emma Raducanu cleared a dangerous first-round hurdle, seeing off experienced American Sloane Stephens 6-0, 2-6, 6-1 in a topsy-turvy contest.

Twice former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova said she was unsurprised at bowing out of the Australian Open in the opening round on Tuesday after a difficult month Down Under.

The 2019 Australian Open finalist was ousted by Sorana Cirstea for the second successive year at Melbourne Park, the Romanian veteran easing to a 6-2, 6-2 victory on John Cain Arena.

The 20th seed, who lost to Naomi Osaka in the final three years ago, entered two warm-up tournaments but ended up playing only three matches after early exits in Adelaide and Sydney.

Daniil Medvedev launched his bid for a maiden Australian Open title with a 6-1, 6-4, 7-6(3) romp over Swiss battler Henri Laaksonen.

US Open champion Medvedev, favourite to win at Melbourne Park in the wake of Novak Djokovic's deportation, was in cruise control for two sets against world number 91 Laaksonen before being dragged into a proper dog-fight in the third set.

US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez lost 6-4, 6-2 to local wildcard Maddison Inglis to continue her run of first-round exits at Melbourne Park. Third seed Garbine Muguruza struggled to close out the contest but reached the second round of the Australian Open with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over feisty young Frenchwoman Clara Burel.

Former French Open champion Iga Swiatek overcame a slow start to cruise into the second round with a 6-3, 6-0 win over British qualifier Harriet Dart. The seventh seed takes on Rebecca Peterson in the second round.

Earlier, 2020 quarter-finalist Anett Kontaveit beat Katerina Siniakova 6-2, 6-3.

Former US Open champion Sam Stosur began her 20th and final Australian Open singles campaign with a 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-3 win over Robin Anderson. Stosur is set to finish her singles career after the Grand Slam but will continue to play doubles in 2022.

World No. 6 and four-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist Andrey Rublev of Russia also began his march towards another Grand Slam second week with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 win over Italy's Gianluca Mager in his 2022 debut.

Making his first appearance at the Australian Open since 2018, Richard Gasquet returned with a bang in a four-set comeback upset against fellow Frenchman Ugo Humbert. The 35-year-old Gasquet, 12 years his countryman's elder, knocked off the No. 29 seed with a 3-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(3), 6-3 result on Tuesday.

Also read: Osaka, Nadal, Barty through; Gauff out

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