The first round was the final stop for Angelique Kerber.
American Bernarda Pera reeled off nine straight games at the start toppling 2016 Australian Open champion Kerber 6-0, 6-4 in today's AO first round.
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Kerber was one of 72 players who served a 14-day hard lockdown prior to this Australian Open. Her inability to practice for two weeks was evident as Kerber struggled to find her range and legs for a set-and-a-half today..
Afterward, the German left-hander said the hard lockdown "definitely" impacted her play.
"Definitely, yes. I mean, of course I was really trying to staying positive and doing the best out of the two-week situation," Kerber said. "But, of course, you feel it, especially if you play a real match where it counts and you play the first matches in a Grand Slam, also against an opponent who doesn't stay in the hard lockdown.
"I was feeling this at the beginning, that of course my balls are always a little bit out and I was not feeling the rhythm that I was before the two weeks, to be honest. That's for sure, I mean. But what can I do? I tried the best out of it. Of course, you feel it if you are not hitting ball two weeks and you are not in the rhythm."
Still, credit the left-handed Pera, who was down love-40 serving for the match and responded with a five-point spree.
The three-time Grand Slam champion began the day alongside Sofia Kenin, Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka and Naomi Osaka as one of five former champions in the field.
After suffering her first AO first-round exit since 2015 Kerber said she would "maybe think twice" about traveling down under had she known a two-week hard quarantine was looming.
"First of all, I mean, Australia is doing a really good job. Now when you are free, you go outside, everything is open," Kerber said. "But when I'm looking back, of course I was not planned the two weeks hard quarantine.
"I don't know, maybe if I knew that before to stay really two weeks in the hard quarantine without hitting a ball, maybe I would think twice about that."
Vince Caligiuri/Tennis Australia