The German is one of only a few healthy members of the WTA top 10 and the number seven showed her form in hot 40 Celsius condition to earn victory over Ukrainian Hopman Cup finalist Elina Svitolina 4-6, 6-0, 6-3.
Despite feeling under the weather in the oppressive heat, Kerber hung tough to seal victory.
“I had a lot of matches last week, but my plans was to have a lot of matches here,” she told local media.
“I’m healthy, I have no pain anywhere. I know Melbourne will be hot as well in the next few weeks and days – it’s always hot in Australia.”
Two other seeds at the ATP-WTA tournament met contrasting fates, with Sara Errani knocking out number seven Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-3, 6-3. Swiss teen Belinda Bencic, the number eight, started with a defeat of Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 7-6 (8-6), 1-6, 6-4.
Germany’s Sabine Lisicki joined Kerber as a winner, 6-4, 6-3 over Polona Hercog. Aussie Samantha Stosur fought past US Open finalist Roberta Vinci 4-6, 7-5, 7-5, while Ekaterina Makarova of Russia beat Czech Lucie Hradecka 6-2, 6-1.
The women’s side of the event was hit by another pullout as Hopman Cup finalist Daria Gavrilova of Australia withdrew as a precaution with a left leg problem.
“I’m a bit upset, If I had a bit more time, I would be fine. But it’s just a bit sore, so it’s a bit of a precaution,” Gavrilova said. “It’s not great timing, but I’m not too worried. I should be fine for Australian Open.”
In men’s play, Italian fifth seed Andreas Seppi, a two-time semi-finalist, started 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 over Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan while young Aussie Jordan Thompson beat Martin Klizan 6-2, 4-0 (retired) to line up against Bernard Tomic in the second round.
Tomic arrived in New South Wales after news broke of a confrontation between the player and officials at a Queensland resort over a 15 dollar court use fee during Tomic’s preparations for last week’s Brisbane tournament, where he reached the semis.
Tomic, who was arrested last July in Miami for loud music before charges were later dropped, has had a colourful past with tennis officials over the course of his career. The Australian won Sydney in 2013 and played the final against Juan Del Potro a year later.
Alexander Sarkissian defeated Italy’s Simone Bolelli 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) while Pablo Cuevas put out German Maximilian Marterer 6-4, 6-4.
GNA
