Bouchard bounced at Australian Open

Agnieszka Radwanska survived her early test on Wednesday at the Australian Open, beating Eugenie Bouchard in a second round blockbuster.

Bouchard came out harder, stepping inside the baseline time and time again and ripping her huge groundstrokes into the corners to build a 4-2 lead.

Agnieszka Radwanska kept her Asia-Pacific winning streak going in Melbourne – the World No. 4 needed an hour and 20 minutes to dispatch Christina McHale in straight sets and close out the day’s action on Margaret Court Arena. I was really prepared for that match. There were 11 breaks of serve, including 4 times Radwanska’s serve was broken.

Bouchard meanwhile was in similar form in the lead up to the Australian Open.

Her encouraging run to the final of the Hobart International was ended with a 6-1 6-2 meltdown against Frenchwoman Alize Cornet, and she complained of being distracted by “personal family issues” at home.

After a number of momentum shifts in the opening stages of the match, an emphatic forehand on the rise earned the Pole the first set.

“She’s had a good start to the season after being sidelined with her injury at Flushing Meadows (in September)”, said Lapierre.

“I don’t have any concussion symptoms, if so I would not be able to play”.

“I always feel good in Australia, I love the crowd, I always feel comfortable out on court”. She also would soon be named the most marketable athlete in the world, male or female.

And if there is one woman who can defuse the attacking, first-strike Bouchard game it is Radwanska, who had found her own way back from a relative dip during 2015. It forced her out of her fourth-round match with concussion and she remained troubled for the rest of the season.

The $5,000 fine is the highest a female player has faced for skipping a mandatory news conference, and the second highest since Marat Safin was fined $10,000 at the 2001 French Open. She hit 14 winners in the match and had 14 unforced errors.

Sharapova, who won the title here in 2008 and has reached three other finals, completed the win in 71 minutes and will next play either Lauren Davis of the US or Magadalena Rybarikova of Slovakia.

Under sunny skies and a temperature of 30 Celsius (86 Fahrenheit), two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova has begun play in her first-round match against Luksika Kumkhum of Thailand, the first match on the center court at the Australian Open.