Australian Casey Dellacqua has made a winning start to the 2014 Hobart International.
Dellacqua moved into the second round with a 6-4 6-4 win against Belgian qualifier Alison Van Uytvanck in front of a supportive crowd on the Domain Tennis Centre’s centre court.
“Playing a qualifier is never easy because they have had three matches. I had to be ready for this match today,” Dellacqua said. “I was just happy to get that win.”
Dellacqua served for the match at 5-2 but was broken.
She admitted after the match a minor gas explosion in the tournament kitchen during that game had affected her concentration.
“The explosion shook me a little bit to be honest. I kept thinking ‘I hope everyone is okay’. It threw me for a few games,” she said. “I didn’t feel like we should keep playing if something had happened.”
Dellacqua called her coach on court at 5-4, which helped her regain her composure and secure the first round victory.
“I just had to re-focus at 5-4. I knew I had put myself in the position to win the match,” she said.
Tournament officials said the explosion was an isolated incident and there were no injuries.
Dellacqua’s win today continued a strong run of form for the world no. 125. She won two ITF titles in late 2013 then won the Australian Open wildcard play-off in December.
Dellacqua, whose goal is to return to the world’s top 100 this season, believes her busy end to the season was a positive for her Australian summer.
“You can’t beat playing matches,” she said.
Dellacqua will play either fourth seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova from Russia or American Alison Riske in the second round.