Aussies Maya Joint and Aleksandar Vukic took full advantage of their wildcards to claim wins on day one of the Brisbane International.
In the first WTA match on Pat Rafter Arena, Joint took out compatriot Maddison Inglis 6-3 6-4.
Both players impressed at the back of the court, but it was the teenager who showed composure beyond her years.
It was the 18-year-old’s first tour-level win in Australia and just the second of her career.
In a post-match interview, the young American-born Aussie said that her experience playing in Brisbane made a difference.
“I train here, so it’s super special to be able to play a match in front of this amazing crowd,” she said.
“It’s really important to start the season off well and I can’t think of a better place to do it than here.”
She next faces former world No.1 and current No.20 Victoria Azarenka.
It’s a match that Joint believes she can be competitive in.
“There was a lot of things that I saw that I needed to improve in my own game to be competitive with those sorts of players … I’m glad I got a good win under my belt. I’ll take confidence from that. She hasn’t played a match yet this week, so we’ll see how it goes.”
Vukic Serves up Victory
In the last match on Pat Rafter Arena, Alexandar Vukic took on former world No.7 David Goffin.
Vukic was due to play the qualifying event but was a late wildcard recipient due to Thanasi Kokkinakis' withdrawal from the event.
The Aussie took his opportunity and won convincingly 6-2 6-3 against the Belgian.
He fired down 11 aces and said his serve made the difference in the match.
“I think I definitely served good when I needed to. There were patches where I wasn’t making enough and getting into slight trouble on my serve and then when I needed to I served well … I thought my performance was very good,” he said.
It’s a great start for Vukic, who lost all three matches of his Australian summer of tennis in 2024.
The world No.68 next faces the winner of German Yannick Hanfmann and second-seed Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.
The Rest of the Aussies
In other matches, Australia’s Talia Gibson fell to Czech Marie Bouzková in a highly entertaining night match.
The world No.140 succumbed 7-6 3-6 6-3 to the 44th ranked Czech in just under three hours.
In the men’s draw, Li Tu and Tristan Schoolkate lost in the final rounds of qualifying.
Tu was particularly unlucky going down 6-3 2-6 6-4 to the top-seeded Yoshihito Nishioka from Japan.
Aussies in Day Two Action
First up on Pat Rafter Arena on Monday is another all-Aussie affair with qualifier Priscilla Hon up against wildcard Kimberly Birrell.
While on the men’s side, Jordan Thompson plays Italian star Matteo Berrettini and Chris O’Connell takes on the young American Alex Michelsen.
In the night session, Nick Kyrgios teams up with Novak Djokovic for the most anticipated first-round doubles match in some time.
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