Lesia Tsurenko’s return to one of her happiest hunting grounds has again proven fruitful with the unseeded Ukrainian stunning top-ranked Australian Ashleigh Barty on Monday night.
The 28-year-old was solid throughout, with her 6-3, 6-2 triumph over the No.8 seed booking a second-round clash with former champion Kaia Kanepi.
“It was really good match for me. I know it’s tough for her to play in front of the home crowd. I know I really cannot play when I’m playing in Ukraine,” a gracious Tsurenko said.
“When I saw the draw I thought she’s a very dangerous opponent. She improved a lot last year and we played against Australia in Fed Cup in February and I was really impressed by her game – the serve, the slice, the forehand were unbelievable.”
The world No.44 had one of her best runs to reach the 2013 Brisbane International semifinals and her elation at returning to play on Pat Rafter Arena was evident as she addressed the crowd afterwards.
“I played really well a few years ago and got to the semifinal,” Tsurenko said. “It was a funny last two years. I got a lower back injury one year and was sick with a viral illness so for two years I couldn’t play one of my favourite tournaments.
“I love Brisbane – I love the city, I love the tournament so finally I could play it.”
The packed crowd looked forward to a glimpse of Barty’s brilliance after the Australian’s stellar 2017 run.
She started last year ranked No.271 after a season out of the game playing cricket.
Remarkably, she was Australia’s top-ranked woman by October and ended the year in the top 20, knocking over five top-10 players on the way.
As a result, the 21-year-old Barty was expected to make light work of Tsurenko in their first career meeting at tour level.
She remains alive in the doubles with fellow Australian Casey Dellacqua.
“Tonight it didn’t quite feel right for me,” Barty said. “It feels like a while since I have played a singles match and I could have handled that a bit better.
“I love playing at home and I am disappointed I couldn’t have done better. (But) I didn’t work my butt off all last year to spit the dummy after one match.”
Barty clinched her first WTA singles title last year and made another two finals but will need to regroup to make an impact in Melbourne.
She has never made it past the third round of a grand slam.
“Tonight the polish wasn’t quite there, but any player in the top 50, if you are not quite perfect, they are going to punish you and that is what happened,” Barty said.
“Obviously it is not the way I envisaged my first tournament of the year but there were flashes of what we wanted but I just couldn’t string them together.
“It was pretty simple from my end – I wasn’t able to create opportunities to put pressure on her serve.”