Zverev overcomes sluggish start to win Australian Open first-round match

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Third-seeded Alexander Zverev shrugged off a sluggish start to power through his first-round match against rising star Gabriel Diallo as the Australian Open got underway on Sunday.

Zverev, the runner-up at Melbourne Park last year, slumped in the first set against the 24-year-old Canadian before rallying on the back of his strong serve to win 6-7 (7), 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 on Rod Laver Arena. He’s into the second round at Melbourne Park for the 10th straight year.

“Definitely when I saw the draw, wasn’t too happy to be honest,” Zverev said in an on-court interview, speaking of the tricky challenge presented by No. 41-ranked Diallo. “He’s very young, very talented. Unbelievably aggressive.

“First set wasn’t my best tennis, I would say. I was thinking, ‘can’t get worse than that.” It got a lot better after that for me.”

Rod Laver Opener

Seventh-seeded Jasmine Paolini beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-1, 6-2 in the opening game on the main show court in Melbourne.

Paolini wasted little time, and energy, taking the first set in 27 minutes and not much longer in the second to wrap up her match against Sasnovich.

“I was focused I think all the time, so it was good,” Paolini said. “And, yeah, it’s not easy to play the first match at the Slams on a big court, but I’m happy with my performance.”

Fellow Italian, No. 20 Flavio Cobolli, became the first of the seeded men’s players to exit the tournament in a 7-6 (7), 6-4, 6-1 loss to British qualifier Arthur Fery.

Also, No. 18 seed Francisco Cerundolo beat Zhang Zhizhen 6-3, 7-6 (0), 6-3, and No. 32 seed Corentin Moutet held off Tristan Schoolkate 6-4, 7-6 (1), 6-3, finishing with an underarm serve on match point.

Two of the women’s seeds went out in the afternoon, with Elsa Jacquemot ousting No. 20 Marta Kostyuk 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7) and Turkish qualifier Zeynep Sönmez upsetting No. 11 Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.

Sönmez reportedly halted the match briefly to help a ballkid who appeared to be struggling in the heat before the tournament medical team took over.

No. 12 Elina Svitolina defeated Cristina Bucsa 6-4, 6-1, and Maria Sakkari won over Leolia Jeanjean 6-4, 6-2.

Former Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova withdrew because of a shoulder injury before her scheduled first-round match, giving a place in the main draw to Taylor Townsend, the lucky loser from qualifying, to take on Hailey Baptiste.

In a 2 1/2-hour all-American contest on Court 13, Baptiste prevailed 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-3.

“It happened (to me) in Brisbane a couple of weeks ago so I was just, like, it’s crazy that that happens twice in three tournaments,” Baptiste said. “Obviously it’s difficult when you’re practicing and planning to play one person. Luckily, they’re both lefty, so that was, I guess, a plus.”

Still to play on Day 1

The No. 1 seeds for men and women headline Sunday’s night session at the Rod Laver Arena. Aryna Sabalenka faces Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah, and Carlos Alcaraz goes against Adam Walton.

Sabalenka is after her third Australia Open title and was the runner-up to Madison Keys a year ago. She has reached the last three finals and won two.

Alcaraz is trying to become the youngest man to win a career Grand Slam. The 22-year-old Spaniard has won twice in the other three Grand Slams but has not been past the quarterfinals at the Australia Open.

The 45-year-old Venus Williams was set to be the oldest player to compete in singles at the Australian Open when she faced Olga Danilović in an evening match.

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