ADELAIDE: Former French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova and fifth seed Beatriz Haddad Maia were high-profile casualties on day one of the ATP-WTA Adelaide International on Monday, both crashing out to qualifiers. Czech fourth seed Krejcikova was beaten by Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 while Brazil’s Haddad Maia met the same fate at the hands of another Russian, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, losing 6-3, 6-4.

“It was a great match, she’s a very good fighter,” the 75th-ranked Kalinskaya said of Krejcikova, who was playing her first match of the season ahead of the Australian Open. “She made the match very complicated. I’m happy I won, I’m playing better tennis every day.”

Kalinskaya, who needed nearly three hours to see off her opponent, now awaits the winner between American Claire Liu and Russian world number 15 Daria Kasatkina. The 59th-ranked Pavlyuchenkova, who lost to Krejcikova in the 2021 French Open final, advanced with 29 winners, breaking Haddad Maia three times.

“I tried to follow my game plan. She’s a fighter and if you give her a chance to come back, she will,” said Pavlyuchenkova. She will next play either big-serving Karolina Pliskova or 49th-ranked Katerina Siniakova. Former world number two Paula Badosa was also defeated on her comeback from injury, beaten 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 by American Bernarda Pera.

Spain’s Badosa missed the second half of 2023 with a stress fracture of the back. Top seed Elena Rybakina, who beat reigning Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka to win the Brisbane International on Sunday, had a first-round bye.

Her round of 16 opponent will be Cristina Bucsa after the Spaniard defeated Italian Jasmine Paolini 6-3, 6-3. Rain played havoc at the WTA Hobart International, but top seed Elise Mertens safely went through, overcoming American Danielle Collins 6-2, 6-3.

Meanwhile, Fabian Marozsan held his nerve to beat veteran Gael Monfils in three sets on the opening day of the Auckland Classic on Monday and set up a clash with top seed Ben Shelton. Ahead of the Australian Open, the 61st-ranked Marozsan outlasted the 37-year-old Frenchman 6-4, 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (7/4).

The 24-year-old Hungarian, who produced a stunning win over world number two Carlos Alcaraz last year in Rome, said: “I’m happy to beat Monfils, he’s a great player. “He was a top-10 player in the last 15 years so he has great experience.” Monfils, spurred on by the crowd chanting his name, looked exhausted in the closing stages of the two-hour, 35-minute marathon as he leaned on either his racket or a sideline chair between points.

Marozsan will face world number 15 Shelton in round two. The American is coming off a first-round exit in Brisbane and will be keen to get game time under his belt before heading to the first Grand Slam of the year starting on Sunday. In an upset, Botic van de Zandschulp from the Netherlands defeated fifth seed Chris Eubanks, who struggled with a back injury, 7-6 (7/5), 6-2. — AFP