<!–
–>
Anete Kontaveita | Photo: REUTERS / Henry Romero
Women
Estonia’s strongest tennis player Anete Kontaveita started the first Grand Slam tournament of the season with a convincing victory on Tuesday, beating the Czech Katerina Sinjakova in the first round of the Australian Open. The 25-year-old Estonian tennis player with sixth place in the tournament was superior in an hour and 21 minutes, defeating Sinjakov (WTA 48) 6-2, 6-3.
In the next round, the owner of the seventh place in the world ranking Kontaveita will meet with Clara Tauson (WTA 39) from Denmark, who beat Astras Charm (WTA 97) from Australia 6-3, 6-4. The contestant, who won four winning titles at the end of last season in Cleveland, Ostrava, Moscow and Cluj-Napoca, is considered one of the contenders for the entire tournament. At the end of last season, the Estonian also reached the finals of the Women’s Tennis Association’s (WTA) season finale, or “WTA Finals”, in which, however, he gave way to Spanish Garvinje Mugurus in two sets.
Mugurusa (WTA 3rd) also started the Australian Championship with a victory. In less than an hour and a half, the Spaniard defeated Clare Burell (WTA 77) from France 6-3, 6-4.
It has already been reported that on Tuesday, the second racket of Latvian women’s tennis, Anastasia Sevastova, conceded to Magda Linete from Poland in the first round with 4-6, 5-7.
Men
Norwegian tennis player Kaspers Rūds, who is in the eighth number, will not be able to participate in the Australian Open due to injury. It is reported that Rūds (ATP 8), who won five ATP tournaments in 2021, suffered an ankle injury during training, which prevented him from fighting for his first Grand Slam title.
“I hope to be able to recover from the injury before going to the court,” said the first Norwegian to win an ATP tournament two days ago. “Unfortunately, it will take longer for the injury to heal.” In the first round match, Rūdis had to meet Alex Molchan from Slovakia (ATP 74) on Tuesday, but the “lucky loser” Roman Saifulin (ATP 134) from Russia took his place.
This game is over and Molchan won four sets with 6-3, 7-6 (11: 9), 5-7, 7-6 (9: 7).
The Australian Open started on January 17 and will run until January 30.
