Australian tennis player Arina Rodionova has enjoyed her comeback to the Women’s Tennis Association, scoring a surprise victory over Italian player Martina Trevisan in their first match at the Brisbane International.
The 33-year-old managed to come back from losing serve early in both sets and ultimately won 6-3 6-2 in the first match of the tournament at Pat Rafter Arena against Trevisan. Trevisan had reached a career high ranking of 18 in May.
Australia’s top female player, Rodionova, is ranked No.114 in the world, but she required a wildcard in order to participate in her first major tournament in almost two years.
She has worked tirelessly to return to fitness, overcoming a wrist injury in 2022 and dominating on the lower-tier ITF level this year to surge from No.302 in the world.
Rodionova has achieved an impressive seven ITF singles titles and 78 victories this year. In the next round, she will go up against former Australian Open winner Sofia Kenin from the United States.
Rodionova expressed her enjoyment of being on the court today, stating that she had a great time and couldn’t recall the last time she had so much fun.
“I was absent from the sport for eight months. It was a difficult period, but I returned last year and have since played over 100 matches. I am now feeling very confident on the court.”
“Appreciate your health – as you can see, I am thoroughly enjoying myself here.”
In the start of the tennis season in Brisbane, Alexei Popyrin emerged as the victor in a closely contested match against fellow Australian Chris O’Connell.
The player ranked 40th in the world emerged victorious in a hard-fought match at the Brisbane International, defeating their opponent 6-4, 6-7 (7-5), 7-6 (7-4) after over three hours of intense play on Sunday.
Popyrin’s big serve was never broken and he controlled things early, but world No.68 O’Connell dug in his heels until a trio of costly misses in the third-set tiebreak cost him.
In the third set, O’Connell’s powerful forehand narrowly missed the court, followed by a missed volley and a backhand error.
It belied an otherwise stoic effort from the Sydney man, who was washing boats before an 82-win season on the lower tiers in 2019 catapulted him from outside the top 1000 to within sight of the top 100.
Currently, O’Connell and Popyrin are among the 10 Australian men ranked in the top 116 in the world.
Popyrin described the victory as a fierce competition for the final match of the year.
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“If I had not maintained my concentration, I would have easily lost this game.”
“He will definitely achieve great things this summer if he maintains that level of play.”
Popyrin’s 2023 has been filled with success and he is now aiming for even greater achievements in 2024, hoping to make it past the third round at major tournaments, which he has done five times before but never advanced further.
On Monday’s day session, Pat Rafter Arena will feature a match between the lively American Ben Shelton and Russia’s Roman Safiullin, with the winner facing their first opponent.
Sloane Stephens of the United States defeated Katerina Siniakova from Czech Republic with a score of 7-5 6-3, while former US Open champion Dominic Thiem from Austria barely made it through qualifying by defeating Italian player Giulio Zeppieri, who is currently ranked No. 135 in the world, with a score of 3-6 6-4 6-4.
Thiem pulled off an impressive comeback against Australian player James McCabe on Saturday, as he saved three match points despite a delay caused by a brown snake appearing on the court.
In the first round, he may potentially compete against Rafael Nadal, as the Spanish star has been paired with a qualifier for his return from injury.
Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal will each participate in doubles matches before playing singles on either Monday or Tuesday.
