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Melbourne, Tuesday

Ashleigh Barty and Naomi Osaka made successful returns after long layoffs Tuesday, fine-tuning their preparations ahead of the Australian Open.

In the night match, world number one Barty showed little rust to comfortably beat Ana Bogdan 6-3, 6-3 in the Yarra Valley Classic.

“I’ve missed coming out here competing but I felt great tonight,” she said. 

The Australian played her first tournament in 11 months after opting to remain home in relatively Covid-19 free Queensland during the pandemic and even decided against defending her French Open crown.

Barty, hoping to break her country’s 43-year singles title drought at the Australian Open, was made to work early before pouncing on Bogdan’s tentative serve and she proved far too consistent for the Romanian.  

The 24-year-old plays world number 52 Marie Bouzkova next.  

Osaka made similarly light work of France’s Alize Cornet in the Japanese star’s first competitive match since winning the US Open for a second time.

The three-time Grand Slam champion hit 22 winners to move into the third round of the Gippsland Trophy with a 6-2, 6-2 victory in Melbourne.  

“I haven’t played a match since the final in New York, I was definitely really nervous going into it,” said Osaka, who won the Australian Open in 2019. 

Meanwhile, Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic got his season off to a perfect start with a battling win over Denis Shapovalov in the ATP Cup Tuesday, but Rafael Nadal pulled out injured and world number three Dominic Thiem crashed to defeat.

The Serbian world number one, who will be chasing a ninth Australian Open crown when the year’s first Grand Slam begins on Monday, was pushed hard before coming through 7-5, 7-5 against the hot shot Canadian on Rod Laver Arena 

Djokovic showed no signs of being hindered by a nasty blister on his racquet hand that troubled him at an Adelaide exhibition last week and returned 30 minutes later alongside Filip Frajinovic to play the decisive doubles rubber.

The pair beat Shapovalov and Milos Raonic 7-5, 7-6 (7/4) as defending champions Serbia took the Group A tie against Canada 2-1.

“It was a great opening of the season. Playing Shapo is always a great challenge on hardcourts, he is such a dynamic, explosive player,” said Djokovic, who was fired up by playing in front of a smattering of noisy Serbian fans.

“I thought we both played on a pretty high level, so I’m really pleased with the way I started the season. – AFP