Americans Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff, and Danielle Collins reached the second round in contrasting fashion at the Australian Open on Monday.
Third-seeded Pegula overwhelmed Jaqueline Cristian of Romania 6-0, 6-1 while seventh-seeded Gauff overcame a second-set wobble to beat Katerina Siniakova 6-1, 6-4.
Collins, the runner-up last year to Ash Barty and seeded 13th, battled a left knee injury while defeating Anna Kalinskaya 7-5, 5-7, 6-4.
Pegula and Gauff could meet in the semifinals while Collins could play No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the fourth round.
A quarter-finalist in Melbourne in each of the past two years, Pegula needed just 59 minutes to get past the 161st-ranked Cristian, who was appearing in her third Grand Slam event.
“Today is just one of those days everything was working,” said the American, who will play either Czech qualifier Brenda Fruhvirtova or Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the second round.
