Australian Open: Badosa beats Townsend to reach second round

Spaniard Paula Badosa won against American Taylor Townsend 6-1, 6-3 to reach the second round of the Australian Open at Melbourne Park on Monday night.

Badosa, ranked No 100, will play Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova next.

It’s the first win for me after I don’t know how many months, six, seven months, struggling with the injury everyone knows.

Badosa missed the second half of the season after Wimbledon and lost her opening match of 2024 in Adelaide. The Spaniard was understandably happy to get a win under her belt after so many months.

“It’s the first win of the season, but especially for me it’s the first win for me after I don’t know how many months, six, seven months, struggling with the injury everyone knows. So for me it’s very special to be back, to get back a win,” the Spaniard told the media after her victory. “Especially today, I think it was a very tricky match. She’s been playing well, especially last week. I was expecting a different kind of match. She’s very aggressive. You never know what to expect from her. So I’m really happy that I played pretty well and I stayed very consistent.”

Melbourne (Grand Slam), other first-round matches (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 58,910,000):

• Anastasia Zakharova (Q) beat Yulia Putintseva: 2-6, 6-0, 6-3
• Katerina Siniakova beat Jaqueline Cristian: 6-2, 7-5
• Elise Mertens (25) beat Mayar Sherif: 6-2, 2-0 ret.
• Magdalena Frech beat Daria Saville (WC): 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-5
• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Donna Vekic (21): 6-4, 6-4
• Jasmine Paolini (26) beat Diana Shnaider: 6-3, 6-4
• Marta Kostyuk beat Claire Liu: 6-3, 4-6, 6-1
• Rebeka Masarova beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich: 6-3, 6-4
• Mccartney Kessler (WC) beat Fiona Ferro (Q): 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
• Tatjana Maria beat Camila Osorio: 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-4
• Laura Siegemund beat Ekaterina Alexandrova (17): 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (9)
• Kaja Juvan beat Anastasia Potapova (23): 6-1, 6-4
• Coco Gauff (4) beat Anna Karolina Schmiedlova: 6-3, 6-0
• Dayana Yastremska (Q) beat Marketa Vondrousova (7): 6-1, 6-2
• Nadia Podoroska beat Tamara Zidansek: 6-1, 6-0
• Storm Hunter (Q) beat Sara Errani: 6-4, 6-3
• Varvara Gracheva beat Yanina Wickmayer: 6-3, 6-4
• Viktoriya Tomova beat Kayla Day: 6-4, 6-2
• Elina Svitolina (19) beat Taylah Preston (WC): 6-2, 6-2
• Linda Noskova beat Marie Bouzkova (31): 6-1, 7-5
• Aryna Sabalenka (2) beat Ella Seidel (Q): 6-0, 6-1
• Caroline Wozniacki (WC) beat Magda Linette (20): 6-2, 2-0 ret.
• Caroline Dolehide beat Leolia Jeanjean (Q): 6-2, 6-4
• Alina Korneeva (Q) beat Sara Sorribes Tormo: 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
• Amanda Anisimova beat Liudmila Samsonova (13): 6-3, 6-4
• Diane Parry beat Xinyu Wang (30): 6-3, 2-6, 6-3
• Maria Sakkari (8) beat Nao Hibino: 6-4, 6-1
• Brenda Fruhvirtova (Q) beat Ana Bogdan: 2-6, 6-4, 6-3
• Maria Timofeeva (Q) beat Alize Cornet (WC): 6-2, 6-4
• Alycia Parks beat Daria Snigur (Q): 2-6, 6-2, 6-4
• Tamara Korpatsch beat Jodie Burrage: 2-6, 6-3, 6-0
• Elina Avanesyan beat Zhuoxuan Bai: 4-6, 7-5, 6-2
• Barbora Krejcikova (9) beat Mai Hontama (WC): 2-6, 6-4, 6-3
• Lesia Tsurenko (28) beat Lucia Bronzetti: 3-6, 7-5, 6-3
• Kamilla Rakhimova beat Emina Bektas: 6-4, 6-4
• Leylah Fernandez (32) beat Sara Bejlek (Q): 7-6 (5), 6-2
• Ons Jabeur (6) beat Yulia Starodubtseva (Q): 6-3, 6-1
• Rebecca Marino vs. Jessica Pegula
• Elena Rybakina vs. Karolina Pliskova
• Petra Martic vs. Ajla Tomljanovic
• Emma Raducanu vs. Shelby Rogers
• Qinwen Zheng vs. Ashlyn Krueger
• Yafan Wang vs. Sorana Cirstea
• Aleksandra Krunic vs. Clara Burel
• Katie Boulter vs. Yue Yuan
• Cristina Bucsa vs. Anna Blinkova
• Jelena Ostapenko vs. Kimberly Birrell
• Camila Giorgi vs. Victoria Azarenka
• Lin Zhu vs. Oceane Dodin
• Emma Navarro vs. Xiyu Wang
• Greet Minnen vs. Clara Tauson
• Danielle Collins vs. Angelique Kerber
• Iga Swiatek vs. Sofia Kenin
• Renata Zarazua vs. Martina Trevisan
• Peyton Stearns vs. Daria Kasatkina
• Sloane Stephens vs. Olivia Gadecki
• Elisabetta Cocciaretto vs. Lulu Sun
• Caroline Garcia vs. Naomi Osaka
• Anna Kalinskaya vs. Katie Volynets
• Mirra Andreeva vs. Bernarda Pera
• Anhelina Kalinina vs. Arantxa Rus
• Linda Fruhvirtova vs. Beatriz Haddad Maia
• Viktorija Golubic vs. Veronika Kudermetova