SYDNEY: Samantha Stosur overcame some home-crowd jitters to beat Lucie Safarova 7-6 (7-3), 5-7, 6-3 on Monday in the first round of the Sydney International, and Caroline Wozniacki’s Australian Open preparations took a hit when she was forced to withdraw with a wrist injury.

Stosur saved three break points to take a 3-2 lead in the third set before breaking Safarova again when the Czech player double-faulted on back-to-back points.

“It was relatively important win,” the Australian said. “It was good to step up and win the match after what happened last week, and I am very happy with it.”

Stosur, who won the 2011 US Open, has never been past the fourth round at the Australian Open. And she has struggled at other tournaments Down Under, too following her first round exit last week at the Brisbane International.

Stosur will next play Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic in the second round after Wozniacki withdrew from their match with a left wrist injury.

The 24-year-old Dane, who lost the final of the Auckland Classic on Saturday, had already had her left wrist strapped when she was forced to retire at 6-4, 1-1 down to the Czech but was confident she will play in next week’s Australian Open.

“I didn’t want to do it worse before Melbourne, so I’m just going to try and get some treatment on it and try and get ready for next week,” Wozniacki told reporters. “I still have a week to go, so hopefully it’ll be fine... I’m confident that I’ll be fine to play in Melbourne.”

Third seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwanska enjoyed the more clement later conditions to beat France’s Alize Cornet 6-3, 6-2 and reach the second round of a tournament she won in 2013 and fifth-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany defeated Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine 1-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Defending champion Tsvetana Pironkova reached the second round after eliminating Italian eighth seed Flavia Pennetta 6-3, 7-6 (7-4). Bulgaria’s Pironkova, who once again had to play qualifiers to reach the main draw, will next take on American Madison Keys.

Last year’s Australian Open finalist and seventh seed Dominika Cibulkova advanced to the second round with a 6-2, 6-2 win over French qualifier Kristina Mladenovic.

Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark has her wrist taped by a trainer during a break in her match against Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic.—AP

Cibulkova, who lost to Li Na in last year’s Australian Open final, will now face Australian Jarmila Gajdosova, who ousted Germany’s Andrea Petkovic 6-1, 7-6 (7-5) while sixth-seeded Ekaterina Makarova of Russia and Garbine Muguruza of Spain also won.

In the men’s draw, fifth-seeded Argentine Leonardo Mayer downed Benjamin Becker 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 to set up a meeting with young Australian Nick Kyrgios or Pole Jerzy Janowicz in the second round and sixth-seeded Pablo Cuevas defeated Nicolas Almagro 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.

At the Hobart International tournament in Tasmania, local top seed Casey Dellacqua overcame a second-set glitch to beat American Lauren Davis 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 and reach the second round.

Third-seeded Camila Giorgi of Italy overcame 23 double-faults to beat Australian wild-card entry Storm Sanders 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (8-6), and second-seeded Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan defeated Silvia Soler-Espinosa 6-3, 6-4.

Adrian Mannarino of France beat Federico Delbonis 6-1, 6-1 at the Heineken Open in Auckland in the first match of a draw gutted by the late withdrawals of defending champion John Isner, top-seeded David Ferrer and Gael Monfils.

Also on Monday, Roger Federer fought his way to a tough win over old rival Lleyton Hewitt in the Fast4 tennis exhibition in Sydney.

The Swiss world number two continued his unbeaten run into the new season with a 4-3, 2-3, 3-4, 4-0, 4-3 win over the Australian in the short-form contest which features an experimental style of play, with sets being won after four games, no deuces and play allowed to continue after lets on serve.

Published in Dawn January 13th , 2014

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