SYDNEY: Olympic champion Belinda Bencic made a solid start to 2022 with a 6-3 6-2 victory over Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maia to reach the second round of the Sydney Tennis Classic on Tuesday, while local favourite Ajla Tomljanovic also advanced.
Swiss Bencic, who heads to the Jan. 17-30 Australian Open bidding to add a maiden Grand Slam singles title to her Tokyo Games gold, broke Haddad Maia three times in the contest on Ken Rosewall Arena.
World number 45 Tomljanovic beat Slovak Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-2 6-3 in her opener to set up a second-round match with Spanish fifth seed Paula Badosa.
US Open champion Emma Raducanu steps up her preparation for the year's first Grand Slam when she meets ninth seed Elena Rybakina, who finished runner-up to world number one Ash Barty in the Adelaide International.
Raducanu returns to the WTA Tour having skipped the warm-up tournament in Melbourne after coming out of isolation following a positive COVID-19 test last month.
In the ATP 250 tournament at the same venue, Argentine Federico Delbonis was beaten by lucky loser Denis Kudla of the United States 6-3 6-1 while Brandon Nakashima won his match against Czech qualifier Jiri Vesely 7-6(2) 7-6(0).
Briton Andy Murray takes on Norway's Viktor Durasovic later on Tuesday.
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