Australian Open 2016: Day 1 (Top Half)..Serena, Davis, Falconi & Gibbs into 2nd Round

Serena Williams, 1R, 18 January 2016 - Ben Solomon/Tennis Australia

Knocking off the rust, world No.1 Serena Williams drove past a pesky Camila Giorgi, ITA. Williams needed a second-set tie-break to move into the 2nd round. Williams did finish the final game in SW1 fashion, 6 of her 9 aces and a 61% first serve accuracy.

Sloane Stephens became the second seeded woman to fall in the first round (No.17 seed Sara Errani, ITA, lost a 3-setter to Margarita Gasparyan of Russia). The No.24 seed lost to Chinese qualifier Qiang Wang Chinese 6-3 6-3.

Stephens’ best performance at the Australian Open was as a semi-finalist in 2013.

Other day 1 News:

Lauren Davis who defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) 1-6, 6-3, 6-4

Irina Falconi survived a 3-setter against fellow American Anna Tatishvili 6-4, 3-6, 8-6

Nicole Gibbs def. Klara Koukalova (CZE) 6-2, 2-6, 6-1

Unlucky Draws:

Alison Riske and Christina McHale were taken out by seeded players No.12 Belinda Bencic and No.4 Anieszka Radswanka respectively.

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