Adelaide International 1: Aryna Sabalenka moves on to the second round

• Daniil beats Miomir 6-0, 6-3 in Adelaide International 1 quarterfinal.
• Ukrainian third seed will next play Karen  for a place in the semifinals.
• Aryna edges Liudmila in her 2023 debut in women’s singles.

Daniil Medvedev easily defeated Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic 6-0, 6-3 to advance to the quarterfinals of the Adelaide International 1 on Wednesday.

The third seed won after 67 minutes after saving the lone break point he encountered. With victories in all seven of their encounters’ sets, Medvedev now holds a 3-0 advantage in their ATP Head-to-Head series.

The 27-year-semifinal old’s matchup will be with Karen Khachanov.

Tuesday saw Medvedev play his first match of 2023, and it took him more than an hour to win the first-set tiebreak before his Italian opponent Lorenzo Sonego had to withdraw injured after three games.

“I played a little bit better today than yesterday but also Lorenzo played really good tennis hitting lines,” Adelaide International quoted Medvedev as saying.

“Sometimes high-level tennis is about hitting shots and a few points. Miomir didn’t manage to do the same but I’m happy with myself. I think I played better, served probably a little bit better,” he added.

In her first official singles match of the 2023 season, Aryna Sabalenka defeated Liudmila Samsonova 7-6(8), 7-6(3).

Marketa Vondrousova, a semifinalist at Roland Garros in 2019, will be her opponent. In the second round, she defeated Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi, a former Top-20 player, 6-0, 6-4, dropping just four games in the process.

“I mean when it’s 1-5 down it’s like nothing to lose and you just go for your shots without thinking. I think that’s really helped me to stay in the set and keep fighting, keep trying… It’s definitely tough to start after the bye and especially against a player like Liudmila,” Sabalenka said after the win.

“She’s an incredible player with a huge serve so it was a tough match and I’m super happy with this win,” she added.

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