Former World Number One Maria Sharapova has been forced to exit the Australian Open 2020 in the very first round after she was defeated 6-3,6-4 by Croatia’s Donna Vekic at Melbourne.
Sharapova, who has not won any tournament since 2017 and has slipped to 136th ranking has suffered a number of shoulder injuries and a 15-months doping ban in recent years. This was her third first-round exit from a Grand Slam event.
Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal, the top-ranked in Men’s singles sailed through the first round at the Rod Laver Arena comfortably beating Bolivia’s Hugo Dellien 6-2,6-3.
In other matches, No. 5 Dominic Thiem and No. 16 Karen Khachanov were among the other highly-ranked men to advance to the second round.
No. 12-seeded Fabio Fognini lost the first two sets Monday against Reilly Opelka but rallied Tuesday to win 3-6, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-3 7-6 (5), including the 10-point tiebreaker in the final set.
A number of first-round matches at the Australian Open were shifted to the second day after torrential rains in Melbourne and surroundings had disrupted the day 1’s schedule.
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