Australian Open 2022: Muguruza, Swiatek sail into second round; Kvitova suffer upsets

Muguruza and Swiatek wasted little time in breezing into the second round at the Australian Open on Tuesday.

Garbiñe Muguruza got off to a winning start in 2022 with a 6-3, 6-4 win over France’s Clara Burel. The No.3 seed Muguruza broke 5 times, and won 7 of 8 games from 3-3 in the first set to take a commanding lead at 6-3, 4-1.

After the match, Muguruza said that she needed to overcome both her opponent and herself to remain perfect in first-round matches at the Australian Open.

“I didn’t know really who I was facing. We’ve never played before. Very tricky,” she said. “You’re always nervous going out there on Rod Laver, which I love, and starting a Grand Slam campaign. I’ve always gone through the first round. [I’m] very happy the way I played and, of course, controlling the nerves.”

Muguruza will play French player Alizé Cornet.

Iga Swiatek advances into second round

Iga Swiatek reels off 11 straight games to seal a first round victory over Harriet Dart 6-3 6-0. Swiatek, No.7 seed made nine of her 17 unforced errors for the match in the first four games, and finished with 21 winners.

Despite the slow start, she also rounded into form on serve: in her last six service games, Swiatek lost just six points. Three of those came in the last game, as she served out the match from 15-40 down.

Swiatek will go head to head against Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson, who was a 6-2, 6-3 winner against wildcard Daria Saville.

Sorana Cirstea upsets the Czech Kvitova for the second straight year

Sorana Cirstea dispatched 2019 runner-up Petra Kvitova out of the Australian Open for the second straight year. The Romanian needed only 71 minutes to upset the No.20 seed from the Czech Republic to win a 6-2, 6-2 at the John Cain Arena on Tuesday.

Cirstea will play Kristina Kucova of Slovakia in the second round. Kucova defeated Misaki Doi of Japan 6-3, 7-5 on Tuesday.