Qualifiers Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Anna Kalinskaya achieved surprising victories over seeded opponents in the first round of the Adelaide International Tennis Tournament on Monday. In the opening match on the main court of this preparatory tournament for the Australian Open, which runs from January 14 to 28, Pavlyuchenkova, who reached the final of the French Open in 2021, knocked out fifth seed Beatriz Haddad Maia with a score of (6-3) and (6-4). The Russian player stated about her Brazilian opponent, "I know she is a great fighter if I give her a little chance to come back." Pavlyuchenkova, who struck 26 winners compared to 13 for Haddad Maia, added, "So I knew I had to be at my full strength 200 percent. I am happy that it worked out."
Kalinskaya fought for nearly three hours before defeating fourth-seeded Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic (7-5), (3-6), and (7-5). Krejcikova broke Kalinskaya's serve in the first game of the third set and led (3-1) before the Russian player made a remarkable comeback and seized her third match point to secure the win. Kalinskaya stated after her victory, "It was a great match. (Krejciková) is a very good fighter. She plays really well and knows how to hit every shot; she made the match very complicated."
Marta Kostyuk defeated her fellow Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina (7-6) and (6-1) in an all-Ukrainian encounter.
