Tuesday at the 2015 Brisbane International was all about Maria Sharapova as the top seed entered Pat Rafter Arena for the very first time to complete her first match of the brand new season.
Following early exits of several star players, including last year’s finalist Victoria Azarenka, the pressure was on the Russian to avoid a similar fate and Sharapova delivered in an impressive fashion.
Facing Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova, who already had four matches in Brisbane under her belt after completing the qualifying rounds, Sharapova started her 2015 season in a frantic fashion, needing a mere 63 minutes to get past Shvedova 6-0 6-1.
Sharapova will be joined in the quarterfinals of the 2015 Brisbane International by Angelique Kerber, following the German’s 6-3 7-5 win over Daria Gavrilova, as well as by Varvara Lepchenko & Elina Svitolina.
While Lepchenko decided the all-American clash with Madison Keys in her favour, the young Ukranian successfully defeated the the soon-to-be Aussi Ajla Tomljanovic. Following Sam Stosur’s early exit, the losses of Gavrilova & Tomljanovic have eliminated the last of the local favorites from the main draw.
Tuesday also saw the successful reunification of a very popular doubles team, as Sabine Lisicki & WTA legend Martina Hingis successfully completed their first doubles match in months. The popular German had stopped playing doubles with the five-time Grand Slam champion ever since dropping Hingis as her coach last summer. The Swiss tennis legend had been successfully teaming up with Flavia Pennetta since then, but the Italian is now busy with her Hopman Cup duty in Perth, and Hingis and Lisicki seem to be very happy to team up again, not only winning their match but also visibly enjoying each other’s company on court.
Wednesday at the 2015 Brisbane International will complete the second round of the tournament, as #2 seed Ana Ivanovic is scheduled to play her first match in Australia. The Serbian Grand Slam winner is the last of the players in Brisbane to start her 2015 season.
I can’t wait for Ana’s match later! Daria Gavrilova is one of the WTA Rising Star that will really shine this year. I really see a lot of potential on her considering she’s a former Junior World No. 1.
I really want a dream final on Brisbane between Maria and Ana. It will be a treat for all of us!
Thank you very much for nice articles and photos. I love them♪
PS: I have been observing Elina Svitolina for the past few days on her on court outfit. She looks like a cheerleader. I wonder if this is the same outfit Monica is sporting on Auckland. I hope she made a right choice of choosing Ellesse over Adidas.
Emman Damian, that would be a perfect final, especially if Ana wins 🙂
I actually like Elina Svitolina’s look and I think her cooperation with Ellesse has even helped her to stand out. I haven’t seen Monica in Auckland, but I’ve just read Jimmie48’s email and he said that an Ellesse agent approached him for photos of Monica at the upcoming Hobart event (in the end he’ll go to Hobart and not to Sydney).
Probably the fitting doesn’t suit Elina well but I agree. She looks good with Ellesse. Can’t wait to see photos of Monica in Hobart. Good job Jimmie!