MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Fifth seed Karolina Pliskova won her opening match againstSara Sorribes Tormo on Tuesday.
Pliskova has backed up her strong performance at last year’s U.S. Open with a first-round win at Melbourne Park, beating Sorribes Tormo 6-2, 6-0 to open play Tuesday at Rod Laver Arena.
The fifth-seeded Pliskova, who beat Serena Williams in the semifinals at Flushing Meadows last year before losing the U.S. Open final to Angelique Kerber, took a 4-1 first-set lead in under 20 minutes.
Pliskova has never advanced past the third round at Melbourne Park, losing each of the last two years at that stage to Ekaterina Makarova.
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Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic are set to begin quests for their seventh Australian Open titles on Tuesday at Melbourne Park under sunny skies and temperatures not quite as high as forecast.
Williams, who plays Belinda Bencic in the second match on Rod Laver Arena, is also looking to add to her 22nd Grand Slam singles titles, which would break the record for the Open era.
Djokovic, who has a tough match against veteran Fernando Verdasco to open night play at Rod Laver, has won the Australian Open title five out of the last six years.
Also in action Tuesday are third-seeded Milos Raonic, 14-time major winner Rafael Nadal and Agnieszka Radwanska.
The original steamy weather forecast has been scaled back to a high of 35 Celsius (95 Fahrenheit).