SYDNEY: Former US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro made a successful return to the tennis circuit on Tuesday, winning his opening match at the Sydney International.

Playing for the first time in 11 months after undergoing surgery to his left wrist, the Argentine beat Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) and will face top-seeded Fabio Fognini in the second round.

Bernard Tomic, the 2014 finalist, needed only 43 minutes to beat Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands 6-1, 6-2 and seventh-seeded Jeremy Chardy of France had a 6-4, 6-4 win over Sam Querrey.

Canada’s Vasek Pospisil beat Andreas Seppi of Italy 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) and Viktor Troicki of Serbia ousted eighth-seeded Martin Klizan of Slovakia 6-2, 6-3.

Del Potro won the Sydney International last year and is among dozens of competing players fine-tuning their preparations for the Austr­a­lian Open, starting on Monday.

Romania’s Simona Halep was among the high-profile entrants but she pulled out on Tuesday, saying she was suffering from gastroenteritis. The world number three told organisers she was unable to take her place after falling ill in China, where she won the Shenzhen Open.

Halep was the second big name to pull out of Sydney in the last two days. On Monday, U.S. Open runner-up Caroline Wozniacki withdrew due to a wrist injury after reaching the final of the Auckland Classic on Saturday. A tough playing schedule caught up with world number six Agnieszka Radwanska when she was dumped out in the first round.

Spain’s Garbine Muguruza, who won last year’s Hobart International as a qualifier and is currently ranked 24, fought back after dropping the opening set to beat the Polish third seed 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2.

It is the first tournament that Radwanska, coming off Poland’s win in the mixed teams Hopman Cup in Perth, is playing under new coach and great Martina Navra­tilova.

Two-time Wimbledon champion and Czech second seed Petra Kvitova was too strong for China’s Peng Shuai, winning 6-1, 7-5.

Fellow Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova knocked out Australia’s top-ranked player Samantha Stosur 7-6 (7-1), 6-2 and will face defending champion Tsvetana Pironkova in the next round. Pironkova of Bulgaria advanced when Madison Keys retired from their match when trailing 4-1 in the second set.

Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro ousted Russian sixth seed Ekaterina Makarova 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 to progress to a quarter-final against the Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova who took full advantage of Halep’s withdrawal to trounce American Nicole Gibbs 6-0, 6-0.

Britain’s Heather Watson upset American Sloane Stephens 6-3, 6-1 at the Hobart International on Tuesday, another of the final warm-up events taking place before the first grand slam of 2015.

Ninth-seeded Roberta Vinci of Italy beat Annika Beck of Germany, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 and Japan’s Kurumi Nara had a 7-6 (7-1), 6-4 win over Johanna Larsson of Sweden.

In New Zealand, the Auckland Open lost two more seeds when Santiago Giraldo and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez both lost in the first round.

Sixth-seeded Colombian Giraldo was beaten 6-2, 6-3 by qualifier Kenny de Schepper of France while Diego Schwartzman of Argentina defeated seventh-seeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 6-2, 4-6, 6-1.

Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta beat Croatian teenager Borna Coric 6-4, 6-3 while qualifier Jiri Vesely downed Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).

Heavy rain washed out the entire first day’s play at the Kooyong Classic, an eight-man exhibition event in suburban Melbourne, featuring Japan’s Kei Nishikori.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2015

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