Jan 6 (Reuters) - World number one Aryna Sabalenka began her 2026 campaign with a thumping victory at the Brisbane International on Tuesday while her "Battle of the Sexes" opponent Nick Kyrgios fell short on his return to singles action after nearly a year out.
Sabalenka, who was beaten in straight sets by Kyrgios a week ago in a Dubai exhibition, resumed her preparations for the Australian Open by turning on the style to beat Cristina Bucsa 6-0 6-1 in 47 minutes to reach the third round.
"Definitely my serve worked really well," she said after the quickest victory of her career.
"I did a couple of serve-and-volleys, which is like, 'wow,' so yeah, I'm super happy with the level. I'm happy to be back. I always enjoy playing in front of all you guys. That was a great performance from me."
The defending Brisbane champion faces either Sorana Cirstea or Jelena Ostapenko next as she looks to build momentum for the January 18 to February 1 Grand Slam at Melbourne Park, where she will be hunting a third title.
The injury-plagued Kyrgios also had a short spell on court in his first singles match since March, the Australian losing 6-3 6-4 to American Aleksandar Kovacevic in 65 minutes.
The 30-year-old is hoping for a wildcard at Melbourne Park and will try to build his match fitness when he teams up with Thanasi Kokkinakis for a doubles round of 16 match on Wednesday.
The duo won their match against Matthew Ebden and Rajeev Ram on Sunday and will take on Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul next.
Despite doubts about his future in the sport, Kyrgios said that Tuesday's match was part of the rebuilding process after a series of wrist and knee injuries derailed his career following his run to the 2022 Wimbledon final.
"This is a stepping stone," Kyrgios added.
"I actually just spoke to Daniil Medvedev in the locker room, and he's like, 'look, you play one match every now and then, it's not going to be the way you want it all the time'.
"As long as I feel good and I'm going to be able to try and use it as a building block, that's my goal obviously, and not just Australian Open but this year, for whatever this year holds, I do want to continue to play as much as I can."
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
