SYDNEY — Eugenie Bouchard provided relief from a deluge of bad injury news in the women's game ahead of the Australian Open, as the Canadian won 6-2, 6-1 against Bethanie Mattek-Sands at the Hobart International Monday.
The former No. 5 is on the comeback trail since sustaining a concussion when she fell in the dressing room during last year's US Open, with the Shenzhen Open last week being her first tournament since.
Bouchard said before her first match in Hobart she had "zero expectations" for the tournament as she eases back into competitive tennis after the four-month layoff.
However she was impressive against American veteran Mattek-Sands, just as many leading Australian Open deal with injuries.
Daria Gavrilova, who teamed with Nick Kyrgios to win Australia's first Hopman Cup title in Perth last week, became the latest player to withdraw from the Sydney International Monday, due to an abdominal injury.
"If I had a bit more time, I would be fine," Gavrilova said. "But it's just a bit sore, so it's a bit of a precaution.
"It's not great timing, but I'm not too worried because it's early days. I should be fine for Australian Open."
Defending champion and world No. 5 Petra Kvitova withdrew from the tournament Sunday due to a stomach virus and was joined a few hours later by No. 2-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, who cited a leg injury.
Last week, the world's four top-ranked women retired or withdrew from tournaments due to injuries: No. 1 Serena Williams (Hopman Cup/knee), second-ranked Halep (Brisbane/ankle), No. 3 Garbine Muguruza (Brisbane/foot) and fourth-ranked Maria Sharapova (Brisbane/forearm). The addition of Kvitova and Radwanska leaves the six top-ranked women all under injury clouds ahead of the Australian Open which starts Jan. 18.
Germany's Angelique Kerber, ranked 10, won her first round match in Sydney, beating Ukraine's Elona Svitolina 4-6, 6-0, 6-3.
Australia's Samantha Stosur fought back from a set and a service break down to overcome defeat Italy's Roberta Vinci 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 in two hours 30 minutes.
Among other first-round winners on Monday were Italy's world number 19 Sara Errani, over Spanish seventh seed Carla Suarez 6-3, 6-3, and German Sabine Lisicki, who eased past Slovenia's Polona Hercog 6-4, 6-3.
In the men's draw, fifth-seeded Andreas Seppi beat Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.
At the ASB Classic in Auckland, American Jack Sock took only 43 minutes to beat Victor Estrella Burgos 6-0, 6-4 to claim his place in the second round. World No. 26 Sock took the first set in only 17 minutes, finishing it with his fifth ace, then won the second set with a single service break and without facing a breakpoint.
Canada's Vasek Pospisil ousted seventh-seed Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (4), 7-5.
Rawdanska moves to fourth
In-form Agnieszka Radwanska has moved to fourth in the WTA world rankings thanks to her tournament win in Shenzhen.
The Polish player moved ahead of Maria Sharapova, who was forced to pull out in Brisbane due to an arm injury.
Biggest mover of the week was former Australian Open champion Viktoria Azarenka, who climbed six places to 16th on the back of her impressive win in Brisbane.
Serena Williams, who will be the defending champion at the Australian Open later this month, remained well clear at the top despite skipping the Hopman Cup in Perth because of a knee injury. — Agencies
