Sofia Kenin‘s Australian Open title defense got off to a bit of a rocky start before she righted herself and pulled out a two-set win Tuesday.
The 22-year-old American trailed by an early break and took about 45 minutes to wrest some semblance of control before eventually beating 133rd-ranked Australian wild-card entry Maddison Inglis 7-5, 6-4.
Inglis never has won a tour-level match, falling to 0-6.
But she did not make things easy on Kenin, who nevertheless managed to avoid becoming the first woman since Jennifer Capriati in 2003 to lose in the first round at the Australian Open a year after winning the championship.
“First round, it’s obviously nerves for me,” said Kenin, who followed up her first major title last year by reaching the final at the French Open.
Kenin acknowledged with a chuckle that she was “not too happy with the way I played” but added: “A win is a win.”