Two Seeded Players Lose in First Round at the Adelaide International 

Russia's Anna Kalinskaya hits a return against Belarus's Victoria Azarenka during their women's singles match at the Brisbane International tennis tournament in Brisbane on January 2, 2024. (AFP)
Russia's Anna Kalinskaya hits a return against Belarus's Victoria Azarenka during their women's singles match at the Brisbane International tennis tournament in Brisbane on January 2, 2024. (AFP)
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Two Seeded Players Lose in First Round at the Adelaide International 

Russia's Anna Kalinskaya hits a return against Belarus's Victoria Azarenka during their women's singles match at the Brisbane International tennis tournament in Brisbane on January 2, 2024. (AFP)
Russia's Anna Kalinskaya hits a return against Belarus's Victoria Azarenka during their women's singles match at the Brisbane International tennis tournament in Brisbane on January 2, 2024. (AFP)

Former French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova and Beatriz Haddad Maia lost their first-round matches Monday at the Adelaide International.

Qualifier Anna Kalinskaya beat 2021 Roland Garros winner and No. 4-seeded Krejcikova 7-5, 3-6, 7-5. Kalinskaya had three match points on Krejcikova’s serve when leading 6-5 in the deciding set and converted the third for the win.

Former French Open finalist Pavlyuchenkova breezed through qualifying and beat fifth-seeded Haddad Maia 6-3, 6-4.

The joint WTA-ATP tournament is the biggest tune-up event this week for the Australian Open, which begins on Sunday at Melbourne Park.

In another first-round Adelaide result, Ana Bogdan beat Katie Boulter, who represented Britain at last week's United Cup tournament, 6-3, 6-4.

Elena Rybakina, who won Sunday’s Brisbane International, and Jessica Pegula are the top women’s seeds. Neither played Monday.

Tommy Paul is the top-seeded player in the ATP portion of the tournament. In a first-round result Monday, Jack Draper beat fifth-seeded Sebastian Baez 6-1, 6-3.

At the Hobart International WTA tournament, top-seeded Elise Mehrtens, who won the tournament in 2017 and 2018, beat 2022 Australian Open finalist Danielle Collins 6-2, 6-3.

“Collins is) definitely a tough opponent in the first round. She can definitely strike the ball very hard,” Mertens said. “The weather was in my advantage, a little bit more wind.”

The Belgian player next faces Slovakia’s Anna-Karolina Schmiedlova, who beat fellow qualifier Maria Camila Osorio Serrano 1-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5.



Medvedev Beats Monfils in Beijing. Draper Upsets Hurkacz in Japan

Russia's Daniil Medvedev celebrates after defeating France's Gael Monfils during the China Open tennis tournament held at the National Tennis Center in Beijing, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Russia's Daniil Medvedev celebrates after defeating France's Gael Monfils during the China Open tennis tournament held at the National Tennis Center in Beijing, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
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Medvedev Beats Monfils in Beijing. Draper Upsets Hurkacz in Japan

Russia's Daniil Medvedev celebrates after defeating France's Gael Monfils during the China Open tennis tournament held at the National Tennis Center in Beijing, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Russia's Daniil Medvedev celebrates after defeating France's Gael Monfils during the China Open tennis tournament held at the National Tennis Center in Beijing, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Daniil Medvedev safely navigated a tricky first outing at the China Open on Friday, winning 6-3, 6-4 against French veteran Gael Monfils.
The third-seeded Medvedev, runner-up to Jannik Sinner here last year, broke Monfils' serve three times in a dominant opening set, The Associated Press reported.
After trading breaks in a closer second set, former No. 1-ranked Medvedev clinched the match with another service break to seal the win in 92 minutes.
Roman Safiullin, who made the main draw as a lucky loser in qualifying, beat three-time major winner Stan Wawrinka 6-3, 6-4 and will face top-ranked Sinner.
No. 3-ranked Carlos Alcaraz, seeded second in Beijing, begins against No. 51 Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard of France later Friday.
In the women's draw, sixth-seeded Emma Navarro was upset by Chinese wildcard Zhang Shuai 6-4, 6-2 in 75 minutes. The 35-year-old Zhang, a doubles specialist, played well above her current singles ranking of No. 595 as she took five of her seven breakpoint opportunities against the U.S. Open semifinalist.
Zhang will play Greet Minnen of Belgium, who beat 28th-seeded Anastasia Potapova 7-5, 2-6, 6-4, in the third round.
Also, 12th-seeded Diana Shnaider beat former Australian Open winner Sofia Kenin 6-2, 6-3 and Yuliia Starodubtseva had a 6-2, 6-2 win over 27th-seeded Katerina Siniakova.
Second-seeded Jessica Pegula was due open her tournament later Friday against Diane Parry of France, and Coco Gauff faced Clara Burel in a night match.
US Open champion Aryna Sabalenka plays Saturday against Thai qualifier Mananchaya Sawangkaew. Top-ranked Iga Swiatek was not playing this week for personal reasons.
Japan Open Second-seeded Hubert Hurkacz lost 6-4, 6-4 to US Open semifinalist Jack Draper in the second round in Tokyo, a day after top-seeded Taylor Fritz and third-seeded Casper Ruud were eliminated from the tournament.
While the 22-year-old Draper and Hurkacz were evenly matched on aces and winners, it was the Polish player's 30 unforced errors, to Draper's 20, that proved costly.
Draper will next play either Brandon Nakashima or Ugo Humbert in the quarterfinals.
Defending champion Ben Shelton also progressed to the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-3 defeat of Mariano Navone. Shelton, along with Fritz, traveled to Japan from the Laver Cup in Berlin, where they represented Team World in a loss to Alcaraz’s Team Europe.