World number one Ash Barty kicked off her Australian Open title bid with a convincing straight-sets victory over Ukrainian qualifier Lesia Tsurenko on Monday.
The two-time grand slam winner, whose previous best finish on home soil at Melbourne Park was a run to the semi-finals in 2020, prevailed 6-0 6-1 in a time of just 54 minutes.
Barty held serve throughout the one-sided contest with Tsurenko and is now unbroken in 41 successive service games across her last four matches.
"It's certainly nice to be back on home soil and playing as well as I did tonight. It was a lot of fun out here," Barty said in her on-court interview.
"I felt like it was nice and clean. End-to-end I did a good job in adjusting. Tonight it was just nice and solid to get out here and play a decent match and feel like I enjoyed it."
Tsurenko took Barty to three sets when they met in this competition two years ago, but the world number 113 was outclassed on this occasion.
Looking to build on her recent Adelaide International success, Barty eased through the first set as she dropped just 12 points.
Barty was just as dominant in the second set, but she squandered two match points in the sixth game to miss out on a double-bagel to begin her campaign in Melbourne.
Not that it mattered a great deal, though, as the 25-year-old emphatically served out the match to set up a meeting with Italian qualifier Lucia Bronzetti for a place in round three.
DATA SLAM: Barty makes statement start
Barty came through this first-round match with minimal stress and looks in great shape as she bids to become the first Australian to win here since 1978.
The pressure is no doubt on as the pre-tournament favourite, with no top-seeded player in the women's draw failing to make at least round four since Virginia Ruzici in 1979.
WINNERS/UNFORCED ERRORS
Barty – 14/17
Tsurenko – 4/21
ACES/DOUBLE FAULTS
Barty – 5/0
Tsurenko – 0/1
BREAK POINTS WON
Barty – 5/8
Tsurenko – 0/2
Angers 2-4 Paris Saint-Germain: Lee and Barcola bag braces as Enrique's side restore six-point lead
Paris Saint-Germain restored their six-point lead at the Ligue 1 summit with a 4-2 victory over Angers.
Luis Enrique's side did the damage in the first half at Stade Raymond Kopa, with Lee Kang-In and Bradley Barcola both scoring twice to extend their unbeaten start to the season.
PSG broke through in the 17th minute through Lee, who doubled his and the visitors' tally when he turned in Marco Asensio's low cross three minutes later.
Asensio was the provider again as the Ligue 1 leaders made it 3-0 just after the hour mark, with his centre diverted in by Barcola.
The latter grabbed his second just before half-time when he headed in from Lee's cross.
Angers made the scoreline more respectable in stoppage time, with Esteban Lepaul and Emmanuel Biumla halving the deficit for the hosts.
Data Debrief: PSG make it 30 unbeaten on the road
Now unbeaten in 30 away Ligue 1 matches, PSG are the first team in the top five European leagues to reach that mark since Napoli in 2018.
Lee scored his first brace for the club, while Asensio assisted two goals in the same league match for the first time since doing so for Espanyol against Real Betis in October 2015 (three).
Although, it was not all plain sailing for PSG, who conceded two goals in second-half stoppage time for only the second time in their history (also against Barcelona in the 2016-17 Champions League).
As for Angers, they have become the first team in Ligue 1 history to lose 15 successive matches against the same opponent.
WTA Finals: Gauff never gave up hope in topsy turvy showpiece
Coco Gauff explained how she kept her cool despite the helter-skelter nature of her WTA Finals clash with Qinwen Zheng.
Gauff prevailed 3-6 6-4 7-6 (7-2) in Riyadh on Saturday to become the youngest WTA Finals champion since 2004.
She was pushed all the way by Olympic champion Zheng, who led 5-3 at one stage in the decider and also clawed back four matchpoints before Gauff eventually got over the line.
"Tired, it's been a hard season," Gauff told Sky Sports after her victory.
"It was a really great match. Qinwen played some unbelievable tennis. I was just trying my best to hang in there and I never gave up.
"I was just telling myself, 'It's another point, another chance'. I've been in situations like this in the past and have been able to turn it around, and was able to do it again."
Gauff is the first player since Serena Williams (12, between 2013 and 2015) to win at least eight consecutive hard-court finals.
The 20-year-old collapsed on the court after her winning shot, something the American quipped she had mentally reserved for grand slam victories.
"At the end of the match, when I, like, fell on the floor, I didn't think I was going to do that," said Gauff, who has secured the year-end world number three ranking.
"I made a promise to myself that I will save that for grand slams. But honestly, to the way the match went, I was like, 'I'm just tired. I just want to lay on the ground.'
"I know I was like a couple of points away from losing, but, you know, I just tried to stay in the moment, honestly, and I'm really proud of myself."
For Zheng, it was a case of taking the positives from the first WTA Finals showpiece match that had to be settled by a third-set tie-break/
She said: "The match was very close, and then, you know, at the end, when you play this type of match, it's not about tennis, it's just about choices on court.
"When you lose a match, there's lessons you have to learn. So I would say it's a lot of positive things, because it's my first WTA Finals, but at the same time, I feel hurt to lose this match. But we will see. Maybe next time I will be better."
Juventus 2-0 Torino: Weah and Yildiz lift Bianconeri to third after Derby della Mole victory
Juventus climbed to third place in Serie A following a 2-0 victory over rivals Torino at the Allianz Stadium.
A goal in either half from Timothy Weah and Kenan Yildiz settled the Derby della Mole, and saw Thiago Motta's side extend their unbeaten start to the league season.
The Bianconeri broke through in the 18th minute when Vanja Milinkovic-Savic spilt a shot straight to Weah, who made no mistake from close range.
Weah thought he had doubled the lead in the 72nd minute, but the USA international was penalised for handball in the build-up to the opportunity.
However, Juve did put the contest to bed six minutes from time, when Yildiz nodded in Francisco Conceicao's deep cross at the far post.
Extending their unbeaten streak against Torino to 18 matches, Motta's side moved to within a point of Serie A leaders Napoli.
Data Debrief: Bianconeri extend unbeaten start with yet another clean sheet
Juventus have now registered nine clean sheets in Serie A this season, the most by any team in the big five European leagues.
Weah got the ball rolling, as he became the second American after Weston McKennie in December 2020 to score for the Bianconeri against Torino in Serie A.
Yildiz then sealed the victory. The 19-year-old became the third-youngest Juventus player to find the net in the Derby della Mole, after Felice Placido Borel (18 years and 243 days in 1932) and Bruno Nicole (18 years and 244 days in 1958).
Meanwhile, Torino have now suffered three successive defeats without scoring in Serie A for the first time since 2014.
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