29th seed Monica Puig was dominant from first ball to last, blitzing Patricia Maria Tig 6-0, 6-1 in the first round of the Australian Open. The Puerto Rican needed just under an hour to dispose of her overwhelmed opponent.
Ruthless Puig serves up first set bagel
It didn't take Puig long to establish her dominance as she held to 15 and then broke in the second game when Tig sprayed a backhand well wide. After consolidating the break, the Puerto Rican was up 3-0, leaving Tig to be little more than a spectator.
To the Romanian's credit, she settled down and started battling, but the result was still the same. After falling behind 0-40, Tig battled back to save all three break points, but when presented with a fourth chance, Puig captialized, breaking with exquisite back-to-back down the line forehand winners. After saving break points in her next service game, went ahead 5-0. She closed the set out in style with a third break for a 6-0 opener and a clear signal of intent.
Puig rolls through second set to advance
The first five games of the second set all followed the same script: Tig getting to 30 in each game, but unable to progress any further. She did rally from 0-40 in the fourth game before falling short.
Finally, in the sixth game, the Romanian would hold to claim her first game of the match, but down 5-1 it made little difference in the outcome as Puig easily served out the match to advanced to a second round match against Mona Barthel.