MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Sloane Stephens picked up her first win on the Australian Open since 2019 when she beat wild-card entry Olivia Gadecki 6-3, 6-1 on Monday to achieve the second spherical.
The 30-year-old American, who received the U.S. Open in 2017, received 5 straight video games from 2-0 down within the opening set and eased by way of the second to clinch victory in slightly below an hour.
“Actually happy with the best way I performed,” mentioned Stephens, who reached the semifinals of the occasion in 2013 however has misplaced within the first spherical in seven of her previous eight visits to Melbourne.
“I’ve been working so much on making the opponents play. I believe that’s one thing I had obtained away from. Happy with the win.”
Ladies’s No. 1 Iga Swiatek and males’s second-ranked Carlos Alcaraz start their title bids later Monday.
Swiatek performs one other American, 2020 Australian Open winner Sofia Kenin. Swiatek is trying to win her fifth Grand Slam title however first in Australia.
Alcaraz, final yr’s Wimbledon winner, performs Richard Gasquet within the remaining match of the evening session on Rod Laver Area.
