Pegula emphatic in Cristian win, Andreescu superb in seeing off Bouzkova with potential Swiatek third round kept alive at Australian Open

Jessica Pegula is one of the favourites for the title this week in Melbourne and has opened up her account in emphatic fashion at the 2023 Australian Open.

Pegula breezed past Jaqueline Cristian 6-0, 6-1 to join Coco Gauff in the second round who will face Emma Raducanu.

This featured a superb 13 winners to 12 unforced errors as well as saving all three break points on her serve as like Gauff, it seems her off-season has done her the world of good as she returns refreshed and ready to take on the Australian Open title tilt.

The same can be said for Bianca Andreescu, the former US Open champion. As the caption of the tweet says Don't sleep on Bibi and that is definitely the case as she too breezed through her opener 6-2, 6-4.

Taking just under two hours to eliminate the Czech ace, she had 23 service winners with only eight unforced errors, the achilles heel for Bouzkova with 17 in all. Two aces and 87 per cent of her first serves in, it was a superb display from the Canadian.

Her net play in particular was sublime with 15/18 forays being won as she picked up a third win in four in her head to head with Bouzkova.

Cristina Bucsa awaits in the next round with the possibility of a third round clash with a certain Iga Swiatek to savour.