Marie Bouzkova ended Amanda Anisimova’s return to tennis at the Auckland Classic on Wednesday as she romped to a 6-0, 6-1 win.
The 22-year-old American Anisimova, who took an indefinite break from tennis in May for mental health reasons, had no answer to her Czech opponent’s superior movement and shot-making.
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Although her ranking has ballooned to 373rd, the former teenage sensation has been granted a special exemption to compete at the Australian Open.
After impressing in her first match against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on Monday, Anisimova struggled for timing and appeared to lack motivation as she was bundled out in just 51 minutes.
By contrast, everything came off for 25-year-old sixth seed Bouzkova, who has climbed to a career-high world ranking of 23rd.
“It couldn’t get any better for me, I just stayed really solid and tried to be really aggressive when I could because obviously Amanda is such a huge hitter,” Bouzkova said.
“Obviously it’s the start of the year so we’re still pretty fresh and I’m taking advantage of that right now.”
Bouzkova’s quarter-final will be against the winner of Thursday’s high-profile match between Ukrainian second seed Elina Svitolina and British wildcard Emma Raducanu.
American world number 31 Emma Navarro made short work of Elina Avanesyan in a 6-1, 6-2 victory.
“Second match of the year, it’s always good to have some court time behind me, I’m finding my groove a little bit,” said Navarro. “I’ve been having a blast so far.”
Chinese sixth-seed Wang Xinyu was earlier upset 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7/2) by compatriot Wang Xiyu.
US Open champion and top seed Coco Gauff faces Czech qualifier Brenda Fruhvirtova on Thursday.
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