Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff fired early warning shots Monday at the Australian Open with blistering straight-sets wins as Rafael Nadal prepares to return to the scene of one of his greatest Grand Slam triumphs.
In-form third seed Pegula blitzed past 161st ranked Romanian Jaqueline Cristian on Margaret Court Arena 6-0, 6-1 in a 59-minute romp to signal her intent.
"I'm honoured that the tournament decided to choose me and Katerina to open on Rod Laver Arena," said Gauff. Top seed Swiatek gets her campaign for a first Melbourne Park title under way later and said she was ready for an "intense" match against Germany's Jule Neimeier, the world number 69 who reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon last year.
"Probably one of the toughest first rounds possible... young, powerful, growing very, very fast in the rankings, playing well," said Nadal of Draper, the world number 40. Seeded seven, the Russian will round off the first night session on Rod Laver against 60th-ranked American Marcus Giron.
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