Pliskova ousts Azarenka, more results you missed from Perth, Brisbane

Author:
Courtney Nguyen
Publish date:
Jan 5, 2015

Karolina Pliskova saves match points to beat Victoria Azarenka

In the match of the day, the 22-year-old Czech battled for 3 hours and 13 minutes to best Azarenka, 4-6, 7-6 (7), 6-4 in the first round of the Brisbane International. The loss means two-time champion Azarenka will be unseeded at the Australian Open. She'll undoubtedly be the most dangerous floater in the draw.

Madison Keys looked sharp in win over Dominika Cibulkova

No doubt Cibulkova isn't even close to playing the level of tennis that got her to the Australian Open final last year, but Keys was firing on all cylinders to notch a 7-5, 6-2 win in Brisbane. She hit 36 winners to 16 unforced errors, pounding down 12 aces and just one double-fault.

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John Isner and Serena Williams led the U.S. to a 3-0 win over Italy

The American No. 1s had to rely on their comeback skills to give the U.S. a win at Hopman Cup. Serena needed a shot of espresso to turn her match around against Flavia Pennetta, winning 0-6, 6-3, 6-0. Isner beat Fabio Fognini 5-7, 7-5, 7-6. Then they all paired up for some entertaining mixed doubles, won by the Americans in the supertiebreak. Next up for Team America is a much-anticipated tie against Canada on Tuesday.

The WTA youth still going strong

In addition to Pliskova and Keys, the WTA's youth corp scored a series of first round upsets at the ASB Classic. Taylor Townsend, 18, beat former U.S. Open semifinalist Yanina Wickmayer 7-5, 3-6, 6-0 in Auckland to put herself in position to make her Top 100 debut next Monday. 17-year-old Ana Konjuh brushed aside eighth seed Mona Barthel 6-2, 6-1. And though it wasn't an upset, Sloane Stephens started her season off with a solid 6-3, 6-1 win over Silvia Soler-Espinosa.

Thanasi Kokkinakis upsets Julien Benneteau

The 18-year-old Australian wildcard, ranked No. 149, rolled past No. 8 seed Benneteau 6-4, 6-3 in the first round of Brisbane. On the whole, it was a good day for the Aussies: James Duckworth lost just four games to No. 6 seed Gilles Simon and Bernard Tomic beat Sam Querrey 7-5, 7-6 (5). That might make up for one of the shockers over the weekend, when Sam Stosur blew a 5-1 lead and match point to lose 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 to Varvara Lepchenko.

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Vera ZvonarevaoutgrindsPengShuai

The former No. 2 is back on the comeback trail and beat No. 3 seed Peng 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Also in Shenzhen, top seed Simona Halep needed three sets to beat Annika Beck 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. No. 2 seed Petra Kvitova had a far easier time, beating Duan Ying-Ying 6-3, 6-1.