Amanda Anisimova said she was feeling refreshed and enjoying herself after upsetting 13th-seeded Liudmila Samsonova on her return to Grand Slam tennis Sunday following a break to deal with mental health issues.
The 22-year-old American came out on top in her Australian Open first-round clash 6-3, 6-4, two weeks after returning to action in Auckland following a period of just under eight months away.
“I’m here and feeling good, so we made it,” she said, after stepping back from the sport in May, saying it was “unbearable” being at tennis tournaments, citing mental health issues and burnout.
“I’m just here for the journey right now and seeing how much I can progress.”
The 2019 Roland Garros semi-finalist had to battle back from a break down in both sets against Samsonova, including a 4-1 deficit in the second set.
But she methodically pulled herself back into contention before closing out the match.
“The most important thing is that I feel a lot more refreshed. I’m enjoying practising. I’m enjoying every second that I’m out there,” she said.
“Even when I was down today, I was still just enjoying the challenge.
“Yeah, I’m just happy with how I feel coming back. I feel like I was very burned out while I was playing, and that really wasn’t a nice feeling. Being able to just reset is really nice.”
Anisimova will next play either Argentina’s Nadia Podoroska or Slovakia’s Tamara Zidansek.
Krejcikova, Sakkari Win
Czech Barbora Krejcikova was the only former women’s Grand Slam winner playing in the day session and the ninth seed was soon in trouble against Japanese wildcard Mai Hontama on Margaret Court Arena.
Hontama, playing her first main draw match at Melbourne Park, took the first set and former French Open champion Krejcikova needed plenty of sideline coaching and a medical timeout for a foot injury before progressing 2-6 6-4 6-3.
Women’s eighth seed Maria Sakkari had an easier time getting past her Japanese opponent Nao Hibino 6-4 6-1 but 13th seed Liudmila Samsonova crashed out 6-3 6-4 at the hands of American Amanda Anisimova.
Czech qualifier Brenda Fruhvirtova became the youngest winner in the main draw since Coco Gauff beat Naomi Osaka in 2020 with a 2-6 6-4 6-3 victory over Ana Bogdan at the age of 16 years and 287 days.
Fruhvirtova will next face reigning women’s champion Aryna Sabalenka or German qualifier Ella Seidel, whose first-round contest is the last match of the day on the main showcourt.
Marin Cilic played his first Australian Open before Fruhvirtova was born and reached the final in 2018 but he had little to celebrate after his 50th match at Melbourne Park, a 6-1 2-6 6-2 7-5 loss to Hungarian Fabian Marozsan.
As usual, big crowds flocked to the Melbourne Park precinct for the year’s first Grand Slam even if there was no Nick Kyrgios to cheer on this year.
Local qualifier Dane Sweeny gave fans on Kyrgios’s favourite court plenty to shout about in his gutsy 3-6 6-3 6-4 2-6 6-2 loss to Argentine Francisco Cerundolo on John Cain Arena.
“The crowd was unreal,” said Sweeny. “I was really happy to take it to a fifth and push him to the very end.”
(With inputs from Agencies)
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