Adelaide International II: Barbora Krejcikova, Veronika Kudermetova roll on in Adelaide

Adelaide: World number nine Veronika Kudermetova battled back to beat two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka and join Barbora Krejcikova in the Adelaide International II second round on Tuesday.Kudermetova, who had a stunning 2022 in which she claimed almost 40 match wins, triumphed 2-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4."Of course I'm really happy about this win because it means a lot against Vika," said Russia's Kudermetova, 25, ahead of next week's Australian Open."She's a two-time Grand Slam champion so for me it's really important to play against that (level of) player and beat them. With every win I have a little bit more confidence."A resurgent Krejcikova, who was ranked as high as second in the world last year, won two titles and 10 of her last 11 singles matches to end 2022 on a roll.She brought that form to Adelaide, beating 2022 finalist Alison Riske-Amritraj of the United States 6-2, 7-6 (7/3) to start her season.The 2021 French Open champion, now ranked 21, won the last four games of the opening set and secured the match in straight sets after seeing a match point slip by at 6-2, 5-4.The Czech player's reward is a clash with fifth seed Daria Kasatkina.American Amanda Anisimova, semi-finalist at Roland Garros in 2019 and Wimbledon quarter-finalist last season, won her first tour-level match since August, overcoming error-strewn Russian Liudmila Samsonova 7-5, 6-3.Her progress was in stark contrast to last week's performance in Adelaide I, where she claimed only three games in a first-round defeat to Kudermetova.China's Zheng Qinwen set up a second-round contest with two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 victory over American Shelby Rogers.In the men's draw, world number 35 Tommy Paul won his season-opening match 6-4, 7-5 against Australian Christopher O'Connell.Other winners included Australian John Millman, Dutch veteran Robin Haase and South Korea's Kwon Soon-woo.Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.