Live: Olivia Gadecki on court as Australia gets United Cup campaign underway

So crucial after being broken in the first game of the first set, Gadecky really needed to hold there, and she does so.

That was a really good solid hold from Gadekcy and, despite losing the first set, she looked quite confident.

She never had to face a break point on her own serve.

Gadecky made 15 unforced errors, to seven, while hitting six winners, three on each of the fore and backhand sides.

Podoroska had five winners for the set, all on the forehand.

Disappointing for Gadecky, who just can’t seem to get any sort of consistency on her serve at the moment.

She is broken by Podoroska, who targeted the forehand of Gadecki and had some significant success.

Tough for the young Aussie to get out of this one now, with the Argentine serving for the first set at 5-2.

What a brilliant save there from Gadecky.

The Aussie was 0-40 down, facing three break points but managed to save them all with a mix of excellent power hitting and finesse.

Podoroska went long with a lob first up, then Gadecky saved the second as Podoroska goes wide.

And finally she saved the third with another unforced error from her Argentine rival.

And then she holds the game with a sublime approach shot and gorgeous touch with a drop shot over the net.

Magic.

It’s 2-3, Podoroska with the break.

Good hold from Gadecki.

She was pushed again by Podoroska at 30-30, but then powered a sensational backhand winner before forcing the error as the Argentina hit the net.

A really good game that had team captain Lleyton Hewitt up and about in the Australia box.

It’s 2-1, Podoroska with the break.

Not a great start for Olivia Gadecki.

She has dropped her first service game and Podoroska has held hers to take a 2-0 lead early on.

Just some nerves, perhaps for Gadecki.

Lucija Ćirić Bagarić has come in to replace to partner Ivan Dodig in the mixed doubles for Croatia in Perth.

Meanwhile, Canada has stuck with the pre-scheduled pairing of Leylah Fernandez and Félix Auger-Aliassime.

That match will be underway shortly.

Olivia Gadecki is due on court very, very soon at Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney to kick off Australia’s clash with Argentina.

Gadecki, 22, is ranked 97 in the world and takes on Nadia Podoroska, who is ranked 100.

On paper, this could/should be a very tight match – but Podoroska, who is five years Gadecki’s senior, has been ranked as high as 36 in the last few years.

They have played once in their careers, pretty recently too.

Podoroska won 6-2, 6-4 in the first round of qualifying for Indian Wells earlier this year.

Great news from qualifying for the Brisbane International.

Yesterday, of eight women, just two made it through to the second round.

Today, Australia is two-for-two.

Maddison Inglis, the 11th seed, beat Anastasiia Sobolieva 6-3, 6-0 to breeze into main draw.

Then, Priscilla Hon, who had a monumental battle with Harriet Dart yesterday, flew past China’s Guo Hanyu 7-5, 6-2.

We’ll let you know where they will sit in terms of who they will play, as soon as qualifying is completed.

It was good that both those women got through so quickly today, it has to be said, because it has been a dead set stinker of a day in South East Queensland, desperately hot and sticky.

Borna Ćorić is speaking now.

He’s as stunned as we are at that turn around.

“I’m not sure either, to be honest,” he says.

“You were watching from up there, maybe you have a better idea,” he adds.

“I was just trying to stay positive … and I knew I would have my chances.

“I started to play better, I started to serve better, the third set, this was absolute chaos, but I got a bit of luck.”

He says that he never gave up on his game, knowing that he was able to start hitting the ball deep despite being down in the second set.

“I started to feel better, started to hit the ball deep, you never know what’s going to happen, but I knew I was going to get my chances,” he says.

An extraordinary comeback from world number 90 Borna Ćorić.

He lost the first set to Canada’s Félix Auger-Aliassime 6-0 and was only a handful of points from losing the second set too.

But then Ćorić suddenly exploded, winning the last two sets 6-4 to complete a remarkable turnaround victory in three sets and two hours 19 minutes.

It’s now 1-1 in Perth, with a mixed doubles tie to come.

The highly anticipated women’s draw will see the top 16 seeded players receive opening-round byes.

That includes world number one Aryna Sabalenka, number nine Daria Kasatkina and number 12 Paula Badosa.

Ons Jabeur takes on Saisai
Zheng in a potentially tasty first-round clash.

Queensland’s Kimberly Birrell faces a qualifier first, with number two seed, world number eight Emma Navarro her potential second-round opponent.

Fellow wildcard Maya Joint, making her debut in Brisbane, meets a qualifier in her opening match.

Talia Gibson, another wildcard entrant, takes on world number 44 Czech Marie Bouzkova.

Nick Kyrgios will play big-serving French 21-year-old Giovanni Perricard in the first round of the Brisbane International.

It will be Kyrgios’ first tour-level appearance since the Stuttgart Open in June 2023.

Number one seed Novak Djokovic has been drawn against home hope Rinky Hijikata in the first round, in what will be their first ever meeting.

Djokovic, who will also play with Kyrgios in the doubles in Brisbane, is playing in an ATP250 event for the first time since 2009.

He could meet former world number six Gael Monfils in the second round.

Kyrgios and Djokovic are in the top half of the singles draw and are not slated to play each other until the semifinals should they both win through.

 Jordan Thompson will face a very tough first-round match against Italian Matteo Berrettini, a semifinalist at both the Australian Open and US Opens.

“Yeah it’s a tough one. He’s been playing great tennis. He broke our hearts at Davis Cup against Thanasi [Kokkinakis],” Thompson said.

“He’s got a big game [but] when you play tennis, you have to beat whoever is in front of you to win the tournament anyway.”

Alexei Popyrin faces 37th-ranked Italian Matteo Arnaldi while Chris O’Connell meets big-serving American Alex Michelsen.

Adam Walton will meet Frances Tiafoe and Aleksandar Vukic is set to play David Goffin.

Belinda Bencic would have enjoyed being back in the winners circle, her first official WTA Tour match since becoming a mother.

However, she said that it was clearly harder than she expected to get herself back into form.

“I didn’t expect, of course, to be back so early,” Bencic said after her victory.

“I definitely have a huge respect to all the mums there, what a woman goes through, the body changes.

“Everything is amazing, we couldn’t be happier at the moment.”

Bencic, who has a career high of four in the world, has eight tour-level titles in her career, as well as an Olympic gold medal from the Tokyo Olympics.

But although she acknowledges that things have changed, with her mother Dana in Australia to help with baby Bella,

“We are parents now, our lives have changed, but definitely for the better, and we are super excited with Bella.

“She’s here, we survived the flight to Australia, and I’m really, really happy.”

The first tie of the day has just wrapped up, and it’s Switzerland who has come out on top of France, winning the mixed-doubles decider to claim a 2-1 victory.

New mum Belinda Bencic beat Chloé Paquet in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1 to get the Swiss off to a good start.

The former world number four was playing in her first WTA match back on tour since having daughter Bella in April, and took just 87 minutes to dispatch the 123rd-ranked Frenchwoman.

But then Ugo Humbert hit back for France, powering past Dominic Stricker in straight-sets, 6-3, 7-5.

So, to the mixed doubles we went, and Bencic combined with Stricker to secure a 6-1, 7-6 (4) victory over Elixane Lechemia and Édouard Roger-Vasselin.

-Reuters

Jordan Thompson has called the ban handed to his US Open-winning doubles partner Max Purcell a “joke”, questioning what he said was a lack of consistency in punishments for doping violations.

Purcell elected to take a provisional suspension under the International Tennis Integrity Agency’s Tennis Anti-Doping Programme, saying he had unknowingly received an IV infusion of vitamins above the allowed limit of 100 millilitres.

The ban will keep the two-time grand slam winner out of next month’s Australian Open, where he was to join forces with Thompson four months on from their triumph at Flushing Meadows.

“I don’t think he’s quite happy and neither am I to be honest,” Thompson told media at the Brisbane International.

“He took too much in an IV bag – to get suspended for that when there are other people who have done far worse and sometimes just get a slap on the wrist, it’s a bit of a joke I think.

“But it’s not up to me to decide what happens. When you look at guys testing positive and then you have Max taking just too much in an IV bag, it’s a head scratcher.”

Last month, French Open champion Iga Świątek accepted a one-month suspension after testing positive for the banned substance trimetazidine following contamination of her sleep medication.

Jannik Sinner, the world number one, was cleared of wrongdoing after failing two tests in March for anabolic agent clostebol but faces a possible two-year ban after an appeal by WADA, the global anti-doping body.

Both players have been cleared to play at the Australian Open, which starts on Jan. 12.

Purcell’s suspension means the 27-year-old, who also won the men’s doubles title at Wimbledon in 2022, cannot play in or attend any event authorised by tennis’ governing body, leaving Thompson looking for a new partner.

“It wasn’t great news for me and Maxy – especially Max,” Thompson said.

“I think it’s a bit of a joke, but there’s not a lot I can do about it.”

Good afternoon and welcome to the second day of Australia’s summer of tennis!

It’s day two of the United Cup and we’re in action in two cities now, as Sydney joins Perth’s party.

The big ticket item today is Alex de Minaur, in action for the first time this season as he takes on Tomás Martín Etcheverry of Argentina.

But there’s plenty of other stuff taking place across the country,.

Indeed, we’re already under way in Perth and Sydney, with France and Switzerland tied up at 1-1 in their contest at the moment, and Canada leading Croatia 1-0.

But we’ll get into that imminently.