Sam Stosur shook off an unconvincing start to 2014 on home soil to secure a victory on day of the Australian Open at Rod Laver Arena.
Stosur moved into the second round by defeating Klara Zakopalova 6-3 6-4 just three days after losing to the Czech at the Hobart International.
The world No.17 raced out to a 3-1 lead in the opening set, overcoming a slip on her third service game before allowing Zakopalova tie it two games later. Stosur broke Zakopalova in the next game and wrapped up the opening set in 36 minutes.
The 2011 US Open champ found the early goings of the deciding second set a little tougher. Zakopalova took a 4-1 lead, but won the next three games and eventually prevailed with help from 28 unforced Zakopalova errors.
Matthew Ebden survived a five-set thriller against Frenchman Nicolas Mahut, 6-3 7-5 4-6 0-6 6-3, in over three hours of play in more than 30-degree heat.
Ebden’s past two Australian Open’s saw the 26-year-old blow two set leads to Mikhael Youzhny and Kei Nishikori, but was finally able to overcome his past struggles with five-set marathons and advanced to play the winner of fellow Australian Sam Groth and 28th seed Vasek Posoisil in the next round.
Mahut, who lost a famous 11-hour match to John Isner at Wimbledon in 2010, put Ebden on the ropes with a comeback over the third and fourth sets, but the world No.50 was convincingly overmatched over the deciding two sets, handing Ebden the momentum early in the fifth when he doubled faulted on break point.
Another Aussie, Casey Dellacqua made an impressive start to her Open campaign by defeating former world No.2 Vera Zvonareva.
Both were coming off their own health issues- Dellacqua has struggled with foot and shoulder issues in recent times while Zvonareva missed 17 months due to illness and shoulder problems after finishing second at both the 2010 Wimbledon and US Open tournaments- however the local favourite needed just 75 minutes to dispatch of her Russian counterpart, winning 6-2 6-2.
In other day one results, Richard Gasquet (9) crusied past fellow French compatriot David Guez in straight sets 7-5 6-4 6-1, Stanislas Wawrinka moved into the second round after Andrey Golubev retired injured, and third seed David Ferrer beat Alejandro Gonzalez 6-3 6-4 6-4.
In the women’s, Na Li (4) breezed past Ana Konjuh 6-2 6-0 while Venus Williams was downed by 22nd seed Ekaterina Makarova 6-2 4-6 6-4.
Get amongst CraveOnlineAU on Twitter and Facebook for daily sport, music, entertainment and gaming news.
Photo: Getty Images
