MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Aryna Sabalenka came under early pressure as she launched her bid for a third Australian Open title but the Belarusian clicked into gear and overpowered French wildcard Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah 6-4 6-1 to reach the second round on Sunday.
The world number one arrived for the match at Rod Laver Arena as the firm favourite but found herself a break down after the opening game and looked troubled throughout the first set by the guile of left-hander Rakotomanga Rajaonah despite getting back on serve.
Sabalenka eventually found her rhythm and reasserted control, turning her initial difficulties into little more than a footnote as the 27-year-old settled into her power game to go up 5-4 and wrapped up the set with a huge forehand that her opponent returned long.
An early break in the second set helped Sabalenka go 3-0 up and there was no stopping the four-times major champion, who closed out the contest on her third matchpoint to book a second-round clash with either Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova or Bai Zhuoxuan.
Meanwhile, tournament debutant Elsa Jacquemot upset 20th seed Marta Kostyuk 6-7(4) 7-6(4) 7-6(10-7) in the Open Era to be decided via three tiebreaks.
Brisbane finalist Kostyuk rolled her ankle in the third set of the 3-1/2-hour contest but managed to see the match out.
After coming through qualifying, Zeynep Sonmez became the first player from Turkey to reach the second round of the women's singles at the Australian Open after the 23-year-old beat 11th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-5 4-6 6-4.
In the men's contest, American Frances Tiafoe, the 29th seed, defeated home favourite Jason Kubler 7-6(4) 6-3 6-2. Tiafoe's compatriot Michael Zheng beat another player from the United States Sebastian Korda 6-4 6-4 3-6 6-7(0) 6-3 to advance.