Pegula, Gauff, Collins ease into second round

Third seed Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff and Danielle Collins all reached the second round of the Australian Open on Monday with Pegual is striking form in a 6-0, 6-1 win over Romanian Jaqueline Cristian.

No. 7 seed Gauff overcame a second-set fightback from Katerina Siniakova to emerge 6-1, 6-4 and 2022 runner-up Collins defeated Anna Kalinskaya 7-5, 5-7, 6-4.

“Today is just one of those days everything was working,” Pegula said.

“Always feels good when you win a match like that. I think when those days come you just kind of take it and don’t complain and don’t critique. You kind of just move on to the next one.”

“I was not expecting to open the tournament on Rod Laver,” Gauff said.

“I’m super-honoured that the tournament chose me and Katerina. I’m really pleased with myself. Katerina’s a fighter, I knew she was going to fight for every point. I just stayed strong mentally.”

Gauff will play former US Open champion Emma Raducanu after the Brit beat Tamara Korpatsch of Germany 6-3, 6-2.

Bianca Andreescu opened her campaign after missing last year’s event, with a straight sets win over Czech Marie Bouzkova 6-2,6-4.