Australia’s Destanee Aiava is through to the second round of the ACT Claycourt International #1 after a straight sets win over fellow Australian Kimberley Birrell.
The seventeen-year-old progressed 6-2 6-1, with her serve and forehand proving too strong for nineteen-year-old Birrell.
The Fed Cup representative plays the winner of Jaimee Fourlis (AUS) and Risa Ozaki [3] (JPN) in the second round.
Fellow Australians Jessica Moore and Zoe Hives were unfortunately knocked out in their matches against the top two Japanese seeds.
Moore was up 5-2 in the first set against top seed Nao Hibino before the Japanese won three games in a row to get it back to 5-5. Some strong serving from Moore took the first set to a tiebreak, before Hibino proved too good, winning 7-6(5).
The Australian broke early in the second set to lead 3-1, but again Hibino launched a comeback and took out the second set 6-3.
Twenty-one-year-old Hives also endured a tough first round match against second seed Miyu Kato (JPN). The Australian started strongly, taking out the first set 6-2 after some solid serving and groundstrokes.
The second set saw Kato with all the momentum, winning the first three games. But Hives wasn’t about to go down without a fight, pushing the second set to a tiebreak. However, the current World No.144 proved too good for Hives, taking out the close tiebreak 7-6(5).
The second seed won two very long service games early in the deciding set to go up a break 4-2. Hives fought hard to the end but it wasn’t enough, with Kato prevailing 2-6 7-6(5) 6-3 in two-and-a-half hours.
Canberra local Alison Bai opens her campaign on Wednesday against Australian Ellen Perez.
Entry to the Canberra Tennis Centre is free with play to commence at 10am.
Draws and the order of play can be found here
Live scoring is available here
Live streaming is available here
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