Australia Open 2022: Third seed Muguruza zooms past Clara Burel to reach second round

Spain's Garbine Muguruza returns to Clara Burel in the opening round of Australian Open 2022. (Photo: Reuters)

Third seed Garbine Muguruza struggled to close out the contest but reached the second round of the Australian Open with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over feisty young Frenchwoman Clara Burel on Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday (January 18). Burel showed plenty of fight and managed to break Muguruza in the opening set but her own serve was brittle and 12 double faults dug a hole she was always going to struggle to get out of.

The experienced Spaniard, a losing finalist at Melbourne Park two years ago, came into the net to great effect to go a set and a break up but was broken again when serving for the match. The former Wimbledon and French Open champion broke Burel for a fifth time in the next game to get the job done and move onto to a contest with another Frenchwoman, Alize Cornet.

Happy 10th #AusOpen appearance @GarbiMuguruza

The No.3 seed maintains her perfect first-round win record at Melbourne Park, defeating Burel 6-3 6-4. #AO2022 pic.twitter.com/teFdU0sQe2 — #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 18, 2022

In other first round matches, 2019 Australian Open finalist and 20th seed Petra Kvitova was sent packing by Sorana Cirstea. The unseeded Romanian moved into the second round with a comfortable 6-2, 6-2 win in the opening round.

The 19th seed Elise Mertens marched into the second round as well with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Russia’s Vera Zvonareva. Hometown favourite Samantha Stosur also battled into the second round with a hard-fought 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-3 win.

In the men’s first round, 13th seed Diego Schwartzman eased into the second round with a 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 win over Serbian Filip Krajinovic. Also 15th seed Robert Batista Agut of Spain defeated Italy’s Stefano Travaglia 7-6 (2), 6-4, 5-7, 6-1.

(with Reuters inputs)