American women headline first round of Australian Open with major upsets

Jessica Pegula (David Iliff, Wikimedia Commons)

The matches from the first round in singles action of the 2021 Australian Open have now all been determined, and there were two significant upsets on the women’s side. Gone are two-time Australian Open champion and 12th-seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, and three-time major champion and 23rd-ranked Angelique Kerber of Germany.

On Monday, Kerber was clobbered in straight sets by American Bernarda Pera, 6-0, 6-4. Then on Tuesday, Jessica Pegula of Buffalo, New York, beat Azarenka rather handily 7-5, 6-4. If the last name of Pegula sounds familiar, it should. Her parents are Kim and Terry Pegula, who own the Buffalo Bills.

Six other seeded players are out in the women’s draw. They are Johanna Konta of Great Britain, the 13th seed, who retired after leading Kajan of Slovenia; Petra Martic of Croatia, the 16th seed, who lost 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 to Olga Danilovic of Serbia; 20th seed Maria Sakkari of Greece, who lost 6-2, 0-6, 6-3 to Kristina Mladenovic of France; 24th seed Alison Riske of the United States, who lost 6-2, 6-1 to Anastasia Potopova of Russia; 30th seed Qiang Wang of China, who lost 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 to former French Open finalist Sara Errani of Italy; and 31st ranked Shuai Zhang of China, who lost 6-2, 6-0 to American Ann Li.

In men’s action, six seeded men are out. They are 10th-ranked Gael Monfils of France, who was beaten in five sets to Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland in five sets; 12th-ranked Roberto Bautista Agut, who was beaten in four sets by Radu Albot of Moldova; 13th-seed David Goffin of Belgium, who was beaten in five sets by Alexei Popyrin of Australia; 25th-ranked Benoit Paire of France, who was beaten in four sets by Egor Gerasimov of Belarus; 26th-ranked Hubert Hurkacz of Poland, who was beaten in five sets to Mikael Ymer of Sweden; and 30th-ranked Daniel Evans of Great Britain, who was beaten in four sets by fellow British player Cameron Norrie.

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