WTA Brisbane: Sharapova misses duel with Barty; Osaka, Bertens and Kvitova continue
Maria Sharapova missed a second-round duel with world number one Ashleigh Barty after a narrow defeat at the WTA Premier tournament in Brisbane. Naomi Osaka , Kiki Bertens and Petra Kvitova , however, were able to prevail in their first round games.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Jan 07, 2020, 06:20 pm
Maria Sharapova missed the start of the new season: The Russian, who started in Brisbane thanks to a wildcard, lost her first round game against qualifier Jennifer Brady in three sets. At the beginning everything looked like a win for Sharapova, but after winning the first set she had to give up 6: 3, 1: 6 and 6: 7 (3).
So missed the world rankings-147. a second round duel with world number one Ashleigh Barty. The Australian, like Karolina Pliskova, who was ranked number two in the world, had a walk-through in the first round.
Things were different for the number three in the world: Naomi Osaka had to intervene in the first round, but did her difficult job well at the start of the tournament. The two-time Grand Slam winner defeated the dangerous Greek Maria Sakkari 6: 2, 6: 7 (4) and 6: 3. The Japanese struck 16 aces.
Another round is Kiki Bertens and Petra Kvitova. Both the Dutch and the Czech women suffered a set loss, but ultimately went off as winners. Bertens defeated Dayana Yastresmka 6: 1, 1: 6 and 6: 3, Kvitova defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova with 2: 6, 6: 1 and 6: 0.