Melbourne, Australia, 9 February 2021 | Leigh Rogers

Four Australian women have progressed to the second round at Australian Open 2021 – but unfortunately for two of them, they now play each other.

Daria Gavrilova booked her spot with a 6-1 7-5 victory against world No.64 Sara Sorribes Tormo at Margaret Court Arena tonight.

The world No.387 wildcard, who is on the comeback from a year-long injury lay-off, was in impressive form.

Gavrilova fired 16 winners to the Spaniard’s two in a dominant opening set. She had to fight harder in the second, but still managed to close out victory in 92 minutes.

“I felt like the whole match was on my racquet,” Gavrilova said. “I was dictating most of the time, and I probably just went for too much in the second set.”

Strutting into the second round like 🚶‍♀️@Daria_gav | #GoAussies pic.twitter.com/a2Ek8znDPg

— TennisAustralia (@TennisAustralia) February 9, 2021

Gavrilova’s win, her first at the Australian Open in three years, sets up a second-round showdown with world No.1 Ash Barty.

Barty, who leads their head-to-head record 3-1 and has won both of their previous two meeting on hard court, expects the match will be a “ripper”.

“I always enjoy testing myself against other Aussies,” Barty said.

“Obviously Dasha and I, we’ve been Fed Cup team-mates for a long time now. We know each other well. Tyz (coach Craig Tyzzer) obviously coached Dasha for a couple of years, and we spend a lot of time together.”

Gavrilova admits she has “a lot of respect for Ash”.

“She’s an incredible player, her tennis smarts are incredible,” Gavrilova noted.

“I haven’t played Ash in ages. It’s going to be really fun. I don’t know what court we are going to be on, but I love the big show and I’m sure a lot of people are going to come out and watch. So I’m pretty excited.”

Ajla Tomljanovic and Sam Stosur have also advanced to the second round.

> READ: Stosur’s triumphant Grand Slam return

In the men’s singles draw, Alex de Minaur, Nick Kyrgios, James Duckworth, Alexei Popyrin, Christopher O’Connell, Alex Bolt, Thanasi Kokkinakis and Bernard Tomic have all progressed to the second round.

It is the most Australian men to reach this stage of the tournament in 18 years.

> READ: Resilient Kokkinakis’ emotional win

AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2021

Aussies in action – day two results

Women’s singles, first round
[1] Ash Barty (AUS) d Danka Kovinic (MNE) 6-0 6-0
[WC] Daria Gavrilova (AUS) d Sara Sorribes Tormo (ESP) 6-1 7-5
[WC] Sam Stosur (AUS) d [WC] Destanee Aiava (AUS) 6-4 6-4
[4] Sofia Kenin (USA) d [WC] Maddison Inglis (AUS) 7-5 6-4
Nao Hibino (JPN) d [WC] Astra Sharma (AUS) 2-6 6-3 7-5
Madison Brengle (USA) d [WC] Arina Rodionova (AUS) 6-1 6-2

Men’s singles, first round
[21] Alex de Minaur (AUS) d Tennys Sandgren (USA) 7-5 6-1 6-1
[WC] Christopher O’Connell (AUS) d Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) 7-6(2) 7-6(5) 6-1
[WC] Alexei Popyrin (AUS) d [13] David Goffin (BEL) 3-6 6-4 6-7(4) 7-6(6) 6-3
[WC] Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) d Soonwoo Kwon (KOR) 6-4 6-1 6-1
[19] Karen Khachanov (RUS) d [WC] Aleksandar Vukic 6-3 6-7(4) 7-6(2) 6-4
[24] Casper Ruud (NOR) d Jordan Thompson (AUS) 6-3 6-3 2-1 ret.
Feliciano Lopez (ESP) d [WC] Li Tu (AUS) 6-7(1) 6-4 7-6(4) 6-4

> READ: De Minaur delivers in first-round win

Australian Open 2021 tickets are now on sale via Ticketmaster.