Katie Boulter the sole British winner Down Under

LONDON: Britain’s Katie Boulter began her season in impressive fashion with victory over Anna Kalinskaya but there were defeats for Cameron Norrie and Francesca Jones as the tennis year kicked into gear ahead of the Australian Open.

Boulter is ranked down at 371 after a lengthy spell out with a back injury in 2019 and the Gippsland Trophy is just her second WTA event in close to two years. But the 24-year-old was dominant against 107th-ranked Russian Kalinskaya, winning 6-1 6-3 to set up a second-round clash against American teenager Coco Gauff, who battled past Jil Teichmann of Switzerland 6-3 6-7 (6) 7-6 (5).

Fifth seed Johanna Konta will play American Bernarda Pera on Tuesday after a bye in the first round.Norrie, who began his season by reaching the semi-finals of the Delray Beach Open, led early against 15th seed Tommy Paul of the US at the Murray River Open, but the American fought back in the second set to take the match 4-6 7-6 (2) 6-3.Dan Evans, seeded eighth in the tournament, will begin his campaign in the second round after receiving a bye and will face either Portugal’s Pedro Sousa or local wildcard Li Tu.

Jones was making her tour-level debut at the Yarra Valley Classic but found 14th seed Nadia Podoroska a real step up, with last year’s French Open semi-finalist winning 6-1 6-3. Jones, 20, has rightly been lauded for achievement in qualifying for the Australian Open and will make her grand slam main-draw debut in Melbourne.