MELBOURNE: Ageless Venus Williams opened her 2021 season with a 6-1, 6-3 thrashing of Arantxa Rus, while former top 10 players Jelena Ostapenko and Caroline Garcia also scored wins as a packed week of Australian Open warm-up events kicked off at Melbourne Park on Sunday.

Venus, 40, showed few signs of having spent 14 days in quarantine in her first-round romp at the Yarra Valley Classic, grinding down her Dutch opponent in 65 minutes — an amazing 27 years after making her professional debut.

The tournament is one of two WTA events being played concurrently at Melbourne Park and one of six arranged by Tennis Australia before the February 8 start of the Australian Open to allow players a chance of some match action after two weeks in quarantine hotels.

More than 1,000 players and officials went into a two-week quarantine from January 14 when the first of 17 flights chartered by Tennis Australia landed in Melbourne and Adelaide.

American 13th seed Danielle Collins also had a straightforward outing as she eased to a 6-3, 6-3 win against Belgian Ysaline Bonaventure. She was joined in the second round by compatriot Shelby Rogers, who upset 12th seed Fiona Ferro 6-2, 7-5.

Australia’s Daria Gavrilova won her first match on home soil since 2019, easing past Slovakia’s Viktoria Kuzmova 6-2, 6-0. She will face 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams in the second round after Williams had a first round bye.

Also advancing was Czech Republic’s Marie Bouzkova, who downed home favourite and former US Open champion Samantha Stosur 6-2, 6-0.

Unseeded Romanian Ana Bogdan crushed Russian teenager Kamilla Rakhimova 6-2, 6-2 to set up a date with top seed Ash Barty, while Anastasija Sevastova proved too strong for Madison Brengle.

In a battle between former top five players, 2017 French Open champion Ostapenko triumphed over Sara Errani 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 in the first round of the Gippsland Trophy, charging back after losing the first set.

Former world number four Garcia of France also got her season on a positive note, ousting Australian wildcard Arina Rodionova, 6-3, 6-4.

Kaia Kanepi of Estonia fought back from the brink of defeat to beat another Australian wildcard Astra Sharma 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 after being two points from defeat at 1-6, 3-5.

Top seeds Simona Halep and Naomi Osaka were given byes and will join the fray in the second round.

Anastasia Potapova thrashed fellow teenager Whitney Osuigwe 6-3, 6-0 to set up a date with Halep, while France’s Alize Cornet will play Australian Ajla Tomljanovic on Monday to decide Osaka’s first opponent.

Zheng Saisai, seeded 11th, was making her return to action after 11 months but was knocked out by Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu who came back from a set down to upset the Chinese 3-6, 7-5, 6-4.

Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2021