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Sports / Tennis

Top seed Kerber battles into Open second round

Published: 16 Jan 2017 - 01:47 pm | Last Updated: 02 Nov 2021 - 04:09 pm
Germany's Angelique Kerber celebrates her victory against Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko during their women's singles match on day one of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 16, 2017.  AFP / PETER PARKS

Germany's Angelique Kerber celebrates her victory against Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko during their women's singles match on day one of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 16, 2017. AFP / PETER PARKS

AFP

Melbourne: World number one Angelique Kerber battled past Lesia Tsurenko to get her first Grand Slam title defence off to a stuttering start at the Australian Open Monday.

The top seed ultimately proved too much for the Ukrainian, winning 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 on Rod Laver Arena, but the laboured victory was less than impressive from the German.