Maria Sharapova was the big-name casualty as world No.2 Karolina Pliskova led a procession of women’s seeds into the second round of the Australian Open on Tuesday.
As Sharapova crashed to a straight-sets loss to Donna Vekic, Pliskova continued her unbeaten summer down under with a 6-1 7-5 win over French Fed Cup hero Kristina Mladenovic.
Wimbledon champion and fourth seed Simona Halep overcame a first set wrist injury to save three set points and earn a 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 win over American Jennifer Brady.
The winner of the season-opening Brisbane International, where she knocked over reigning Open champion Naomi Osaka in the semi-finals, Pliskova seemed untroubled after taking the first five games of the match.
But Mladenovic, who crashed Australia’s Fed Cup final party in November with victory over Ashleigh Barty followed by success in the deciding doubles rubber in Perth, made a stand on Rod Laver Arena.
Pliskova, though, held firm and broke Mladenovic in the 11th game of the second set before serving out the match to set up a second-round meeting with German Laura Siegemund.
Fifth seed Elina Svitolina, sixth seed Belinda Bencic and American 10th seed Madison Keys all joined Pliskova in the second round with straight-sets wins.
Svitolina beat Britain’s Kaie Boulter 6-4 7-5, Bencic downed Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-3 7-5 while Keys – a potential quarter-final obstacle for Barty – cruised past Daria Kasatkina 6-3 6-1 in less than an hour.
Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska, runner-up to Barty in Adelaide last Saturday, continued her hot start to the summer with a 6-1 6-1 win over Slovenian qualifier Kaja Juvan.
The 19-year-old’s reward is a second-round shot at retiring 2018 Open champion Caroline Wozniacki.
But British No.1 Johanna Konta wont be repeating her charge to the 2016 semi-finals following a 6-4 6-2 loss to crafty Tunisian Ons Jabeur.
It was a disappointing exit for 12th-seeded Konta, who also made the semi-finals at Roland Garros last year as well as the quarters at Wimbledon and the US Open before a knee injury cut her season short.
Greek ace Maria Sakkari thrashed Russia’s Margarita Gasparyan 6-2 6-2 and Slovenian Polona Hercog set up a showdown with Barty with a 6-3 6-3 win over Swede Rebecca Peterson.
