Brisbane kicks off, Serena and Kvitova win through to round two

Petra Kvitova

Brisbane is already underway and we have not even made it to 2013 yet! Serena Williams and Petra Kvitova began their campaigns today and both were victorious in straight sets.  Serena battled through windy conditions as she eased past Varvara Lepchenko, 6-1 6-2, meanwhile Kvitova defeated Carla Suarez Navarro, 6-3 6-4.  It was a pretty solid opener from Kvitova who dropped serve twice and will play Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second round. Pavlyuchenkova produced a surprisingly efficient serving performance to beat Lucie Hradecka in 3 sets; could this be the season where Pavlyuchenkova finally realises her potential? Finally, a congratulations to Jarmila Gajdosova who made her comeback to the tour with a win over Roberta Vinci.  This was her first main draw win since May following nine losses on the bounce.

In Shenzhen, the first couple of matches got underway as Laura Robson started the 2013 season in fine form with a comfortable 6-2 6-1 victory over Edina Gallovits-Hall.  The Hopman Cup has also begun with Australia (Tomic/Barty), Spain (Verdasco/Medina Garrigues) and USA (Isner/Venus) all enjoying early wins.  The sad news is the withdrawal of Andrea Petkovic, who has suffered yet another knee injury.  Thankfully, she announced on Twitter that she had ruptured the meniscus in her knee and that it was not her anterior cruciate ligament, which sidelined her in 2008.  The injury is still likely to keep her out of action for some considerable time.


Highlights from the first day of action in Brisbane