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Simona Halep and Elina Svitolina victorious in Australian Open warm-up Gippsland Trophy openers
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Published 01/02/2021 at 12:31 GMT
Simona Halep and Elina Svitolina, two of the favourites for the WTA Gippsland Trophy in Melbourne, both kicked off their campaigns with convincing straight sets wins over Anastasia Potapova and Andrea Petkovic respectively. Elsewhere, Coco Gauff set up a match with Britain's Katie Boulter after they came through their second-round ties.
Simona Halep of Romania hits a return against Anastasia Potapova of Russia during their second round Gippsland Trophy women's singles tennis match in Melbourne on February 1, 2021.
Image credit: Getty Images
Simona Halep has won her first competitive match since her French Open shock exit in October, defeating Anastasia Potapova in her Gippsland Trophy opener in Melbourne.
The Romanian was knocked out in the fourth round by Iga Swiatek, then a little-known teenager, who went on to win the tournament. Halep had been the favourite for the title.
On her return to action, the Wimbledon champion was untroubled, beating her Russian opponent 6-4, 6-4.
"I needed this victory, because I didn’t play an official match since October of last year, so it’s been a long time," Halep said, during her on-court post-match interview.
"It was not easy, but I tried my best, and I’m happy to go through."
Halep is joined in the third round by a host of stars, with fellow star Elina Svitolina racing past Andrea Petkovic 6-1, 6-4.
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Halep produces outrageous tweener and lob against Barty
Video credit: TNT Sports
"It was exciting," The Ukrainian added.
Elsewhere, Coco Gauff bounced back from her early exit at the hands of Maria Sakkari in Abu Dhabi, squeezing past Jil Teichmann 6-3, 6-7(6), 7-6(5).
The teenage American will face Britain's Katie Boulter in the next round after she cruised past Anna Kalinskaya 6-1, 6-3.
Halep faces Laura Siegemund, who beat Monica Niculescu 7-5, 6-4.
Finally, there were wins for Alize Cornet, Mayo Hibi, Destanee Aiava, Jasmine Paolini, Jelena Ostapenko, Ekaterina Alexandrova, and Karolina Muchova.
The 2021 Australian Open is live and exclusive on Eurosport. You can watch every moment on eurosport.co.uk and the Eurosport app.
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