Melbourne-based Australian tennis player Olivia Rogowska has advanced to the second round of the Perth International.
In hot afternoon conditions, Rogowska won a very competitive match against fellow Australian Azra Hadzic 7-6(4), 6-4.
Hadzic, currently ranked 329th in the world, had arrived at the Perth ITF Pro Circuit tournament in great form, winning the Cairns Tennis International only a fortnight ago.
Rogowska, 148th in the world, was never going to have it all her own way, and so it proved, needing a tie-break to take the first set after failing to hold serve at 5-4. The 22-year-old raced to a 6-0 lead in the tie-break before some heavy hitting by Hadzic kept the breaker alive at 6-4. Rogowska finally drew an error out of Hadzic on her 5th set point to claim a topsy-turvy first set.
The Australian pair traded early service breaks in the second set before Rogowska seized the initiative by holding two love-games on serve. The Melbournian held serve in a crucial 11th game at 4-4, and then went on to break Hadzic to take the second set and match 7-6, 6-4.
Rogowska faces another Australian in the second-round, Sally Pears, who won her first round match against Japanese player Miyu Kato 7-6(1), 6-3.