Top 5 Hobart seeds fall 1st round

The upsets that traditionally come in the week before the Australian Open began at three venues, while some big names just confirmed their status.

SYDNEY 

WTA

Sydney International 

First round 

Ash Barty defeated Jelena Ostapenko 6-3 6-3

Sloane Stephens (4) decided to compete from set two onwards in defeating qualifier Ekaterina Alexandrova 0-6 7-6(3) 7-6(3)

Qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich defeated Dasha Kasatkina (8) 6-1 6-4, the Russian number one far from her best since landing in Australia.

Aussie qualifier Priscilla Hon defeated lucky loser Tatjana Maria 6-3 7-6(4)

Wildcard Petra Kvitová (4) defeated last weeks Shenzhen title winner Aryna Sabalenka in an opening round blockbuster 6-1 7-5

Su-Wei Hsieh defeated qualifier Danielle Collins 7-6(4) 6-3

Two matches remained unfinished due to persistent rain

Lucky loser Monica Puig led Anett Kontaveit 5-2

Elise Mertens (10) led qualifier Katerina Siniakova 7-6(4) 2-6 4-1

Second round

Angie Kerber (2) defeated Camila Giorgi 7-6(3) 6-2

Kiki Bertens (7) was handed a walkover by Garbine Muguruza, the Spaniard suffering gastrointestinal illness 

ATP

Sydney International

First round

Andreas Seppi (8) defeated Jeremy Chardy 7-5 2-6 6-4

Qualifier Guillermo Garcia-Lopez defeated Denis Kudla 7-5 6-4

Qualifier Andrey Rublev defeated Lucas Pouille (6) 6-2 6-3

Marton Fucsovics (7) defeated wildcard James Duckworth 3-6 6-3 6-4

John Millman defeated Frances Tiafoe 4-6 7-6(5) 7-5

Second round 

Wildcard Jordan Thompson defeated lucky loser Taro Daniel 3-6 7-6(5) 6-0

Qualifier Reilly Opelka won his opening service game against Alex de Minaur (5) before the rain prevented any more play.

HOBART 

WTA

Hobart International first round

Sofia Kenin upset the top seed Caroline Garcia 6-3 6-2

Viktoria Kuzmova defeated Tímea Babos 6-3 6-3

Kirsten Flipkens (7) defeated Dalila Jakupovic 6-4 7-5

Qualifier Magda Linette defeated Maria Sakkari (4) 3-6 6-2 6-4

Alizé Cornet defeated qualifier Alison Bai 6-4 6-2

Alison Van Uytvanck (8) defeated lucky loser Madison Brengle 7-6(5) 7-5

Qualifier Anna Blinkova defeated Shuai Zhang (3) 6-2 0-6 6-2

Aussie wildcard Zoe Hives, ranked 211, defeated Johanna Larsson 7-6(1) 7-6(2)

Belinda Bencic defeated Mihaela Buzarnescu (2) 4-6 6-3 7-5

So all the top five seeds have exited Hobart in the opening round, leaving the tournament wide open.

There will be at least one unseeded semi finalist, and in that section of the draw sits Belinda Bencic, the favourite in my opinion, to win the title from here, given her form from the Hopman Cup, and her pedigree compared to others left in the field.

AUCKLAND

The tournament was rocked with the late withdrawals of seeded players Roberto Bautista Agut and Gaël Monfils.

Their places in the draw were taken by lucky losers in qualifying Laslo Djere and Pablo Cuevas

Steve Johnson was upgraded to a 9th seed and now drawn to be a quarter finalist, while Cuevas was placed where a seed would normally be in the draw.

However, no advantage for either Johnson or Cuevas since byes do not feature for seeds other than the top four.

ATP

ASB Classic first round

Wildcard David Ferrer defeated Robin Haase 6-2 6-1

NZ wildcard Rubin Statham, a 31 year old veteran of the Challenger and Futures circuits, and ranked 360, defeated Hyeon Chung (6) 7-5 6-3

Leonardo Mayer defeated Steve Johnson (9) 7-5 6-3

Qualifier Ugo Humbert defeated lucky loser Pablo Cuevas 7-5 6-1

Peter Gojowczyk defeated Guido Pella 6-1 3-6 6-2