After 14 days of a claustrophobic quarantine - and a lively stream of in-room agility drills and myriad balls hit off walls and mattresses - there was actually some tennis Sunday.

“I think everyone feels very lucky to be out of the quarantine period and practicing, preparing to start to compete this week, today,” Johanna Konta said in her pre-tournament press conference. “Some people already started to compete today.”

As she spoke, Day 1 of the Gippsland Trophy and Yarra Valley Classic was seeing 32 WTA singles and eight doubles matches scattered around the grounds at Melbourne Park.

The top eight seeds all had byes in the opening round, and many will take the court Monday. Here are some of the matches to watch in these WTA 500s:

 Yarra Valley Classic

No. 5 Serena Williams vs. Daria Gavrilova

On her first day of freedom from quarantine, Serena and her daughter Olympia immediately headed for the Adelaide Zoo.

“We had a calendar in our room and every day we marked an X on the days that went by and a big circle on the quarantine ending day,” Serena explained. “And we promised that we would take her to the zoo to see koalas and kangaroos.”

Afterward, Olympia’s mother defeated Naomi Osaka in a third-set tiebreak in an Adelaide exhibition.

“I am so glad it’s over,” Serena admitted, “because to be in a room with a 3-year-old and being her best friend is definitely difficult especially after training and working out. But honestly, honestly, I wouldn’t trade anything, spending hours and hours and hours with her was really fun.”

Next up is some court time with Australian wildcard Gavrilova, who beat Viktoria Kuzmova on Sunday in straight sets. Williams has won all three matches between them, including the Olympics in 2016.

At 39, Serena is a seven-time Australian Open singles champion and needs one more to equal Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24.

No. 3 Karolina Pliskova vs. Elisabetta Cocciaretto

Pliskova has had previous success in the events leading up to the Australian Open.

A little over a year ago, she had a spectacular run in Brisbane, defeating three top 20 opponents on her way to the title. Naomi Osaka was her semifinal victim and Madison Keys lost in the final. Pliskova went on to reach the third round of last year’s Australian Open.

On Sunday, Pliskova was asked about playing a warmup tournament in the same venue as the coming Grand Slam.

“I think it can be good in one point,” she said. “I never actually experienced that. Let’s see.”

She has played two matches already this season, falling to Anastasia Gasanova in the second round at Abu Dhabi.

The 20-year-old Italian has already enjoyed success, reaching the final at last September’s Prague Open. She won six matches there before losing to Kristina Kucova in the final – as a teenager. She also beat Donna Vekic in 2020 and qualified for the Australian Open main draw, losing to Angelique Kerber in the first round.

Pliskova and Cocciaretto have never played.

Clara Burel vs. Camila Giorgi

These two are thrilled to find themselves in the main draw, but the winner’s prize is a second-round match with defending Australian Open champion and No. 2 seed Sofia Kenin.

Burel, ranked No. 237, is one of two teenagers in this draw. She’s 19 and reached the third round last year at her home Grand Slam at Roland Garros, defeating Arantxa Rus and Kaja Juvan. She primarily played ITF events in 2020.

Giorgi, on the other hand, is a 29-year-old veteran. The Italian has a dashing go-for-it style and has won two singles titles and more than $4 million in prize money over her career. She’s currently ranked No. 76. In 2020, she reached the third round of the Australian Open, losing to 2016 champion Angelique Kerber, and the second round of the US Open, going out to eventual winner Naomi Osaka.

These two have never played each other.

Gippsland Trophy

No. 1 Simona Halep vs. Anastasia Potapova

“I needed a little bit of oxygen today after two weeks’ quarantine, so it’s not easy,” Halep said after her Adelaide exhibition victory over Ashleigh Barty in a third-set tiebreaker. “Actually, I was very nervous. I felt like it was first time playing a match.”

After winning majors in 2018 (Roland Garros) and 2019 (Wimbledon), Halep did not repeat the trend in 2020. The closest she came was one year ago, losing in the Australian Open semifinal to Garbine Muguruza. She opted not to travel to New York for the US Open and fell to Iga Swiatek in the fourth round of the French Open. On the cusp of 30 (she turns in September), this season will be telling.

Potapova, the ascendant 19-year-old from Russia, bounded into the second round with a forceful 6-3, 6-0 win over Whitney Osuigwe. Ranked No. 101, Potapova lost a first-round match to Maria Sakkari earlier this month in Abu Dhabi.

No. 3 Elina Svitolina vs. Andrea Petkovic

When Victoria Azarenka asked on Twitter what her fellow players were doing in quarantine that they don’t usually do, Svitolina had a ready answer: “Spent 1000000 hours on insta, tiktok and twitter.” The punctuation mark was a yellow face emoji with big eyes and neither a grin or a frown.

A million hours might be a slight exaggeration, but Svitolina - the world No. 5 - has been luckier than most. She’s already played four official matches this year, reaching the quarterfinals in Abu Dhabi before losing to Veronika Kudermetova in a third-set tiebreaker.

Andrea Petkovic is something of a social media virtuoso herself – and a pretty fair tennis player, too. She has career high ranking of No. 9 and has reached the semifinals at Roland Garros and the Australian Open quarterfinals.

Svitolina leads the head-to-head 3-0. 

No. 14 Cori Gauff vs. Jil Teichmann

It’s hard to believe, but Cori “Coco” Gauff is still only 16 years old. She’s substantially faster and stronger than the player who flew into even casual tennis fans’ consciousness when she reached the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2019. She did the same, a year ago in Melbourne, before losing to eventual champion Sofia Kenin in the fourth round.

Gauff, already ranked No. 48, split two matches in Abu Dhabi at the start of the season, losing to Maria Sakkari in the second round.

Teichmann, a 23-year-old from Switzerland, is ranked No. 57. The two have never met.

Of note: Ajla Tomljanovic vs. Alize Cornet, first match on Margaret Court Arena (winner gets No. 2 Naomi Osaka)

ORDER OF PLAY:

MARGARET COURT ARENA -  11:00 a.m. start
Gippsland Trophy - Alizé CORNET (FRA) vs. Ajla TOMLJANOVIC (AUS)
Gippsland Trophy - [14] Coco GAUFF (USA) vs. Jil TEICHMANN (SUI)
Yarra Valley Classic - Daria GAVRILOVA (AUS) vs. [5] Serena WILLIAMS (USA)
Not before 6:30 p.m.
Gippsland Trophy - [1] Simona HALEP (ROU) vs. Anastasia POTAPOVA (RUS)

1573 ARENA -  11:00 a.m. start
Yarra Valley Classic - Misaki DOI (JPN) vs. [11] Anastasia PAVLYUCHENKOVA (RUS)
Gippsland Trophy - Destanee AIAVA (AUS) vs. Chloe PAQUET (FRA)
Gippsland Trophy - Andrea PETKOVIC (GER) vs. [3] Elina SVITOLINA (UKR)
Yarra Valley Classic - [3] Karolina PLISKOVA (CZE) vs. Elisabetta COCCIARETTO (ITA) 

COURT 5 - 10:30 a.m. start
Gippsland Trophy - Varvara LEPCHENKO (USA) vs. Mayo HIBI (JPN)
Gippsland Trophy - Monica NICULESCU (ROU) vs. [16] Laura SIEGEMUND (GER)
Gippsland Trophy - [13] Jelena OSTAPENKO (LAT) vs. Danka KOVINIC (MNE)
Gippsland Trophy - [9] Ekaterina ALEXANDROVA (RUS) vs. Anna Karolina SCHMIEDLOVA (SVK)

COURT 6 - 1:00 p.m. start
Gippsland Trophy - [5] Samantha STOSUR (AUS) / ZHANG Shuai (CHN) vs. Arina RODIONOVA (AUS) / Storm SANDERS (AUS)
Gippsland Trophy - Monica NICULESCU (ROU) / Patricia Maria TIG (ROU) vs. Caroline GARCIA (FRA) / Nadia PODOROSKA (ARG)
Gippsland Trophy - Irina-Camelia BEGU (ROU) / WANG Qiang (CHN) vs. [7] Laura SIEGEMUND (GER) / Vera ZVONAREVA (RUS)
Gippsland Trophy - Mona BARTHEL (GER) / ZHU Lin (CHN) vs. Marie BOUZKOVA (CZE) / Sara SORRIBES TORMO (ESP)

COURT 7 - 10:30 a.m. start
Yarra Valley Classic - Olga DANILOVIC (SRB) vs. Greet MINNEN (BEL)
Yarra Valley Classic - HSIEH Su-Wei (TPE) vs. Alison VAN UYTVANCK (BEL)
Yarra Valley Classic - Nina STOJANOVIC (SRB) vs. [13] Danielle COLLINS (USA)
Yarra Valley Classic - [9] Donna VEKIC (CRO) vs. Tsvetana PIRONKOVA (BUL)

COURT 8 - 10:30 a.m. start
Gippsland Trophy - Anna KALINSKAYA (RUS) vs. Katie BOULTER (GBR)
Yarra Valley Classic - [14] Nadia PODOROSKA (ARG) vs. Francesca JONES (GBR)
Gippsland Trophy - [10] WANG Qiang (CHN) vs. Jasmine PAOLINI (ITA)
Gippsland Trophy - Caty MCNALLY (USA) vs. [8] Karolina MUCHOVA (CZE)

COURT 10 - 11:00 a.m. start
Yarra Valley Classic - Olivia GADECKI (AUS) / Belinda WOOLCOCK (AUS) vs. Jaimee FOURLIS (AUS) / Charlotte KEMPENAERS-POCZ (AUS)
Not before: 2:45 PM 
Yarra Valley Classic - Anna KALINSKAYA (RUS) / Viktoria KUZMOVA (SVK) vs. [5] Alexa GUARACHI (CHI) / Desirae KRAWCZYK (USA)
Yarra Valley Classic - Aleksandra KRUNIC (SRB) / Martina TREVISAN (ITA) vs. Bernarda PERA (USA) / Rebecca PETERSON (SWE)
Yarra Valley Classic - Arantxa RUS (NED) / Tamara ZIDANSEK (SLO) vs. Andreea MITU (ROU) / Raluca OLARU (ROU)
Yarra Valley Classic - Danka KOVINIC (MNE) / Jasmine PAOLINI (ITA) vs. [6] XU Yifan (CHN) / YANG Zhaoxuan (CHN)

COURT 13 - 10:30 a.m. start
Yarra Valley Classic - Clara BUREL (FRA) vs. Camila GIORGI (ITA)
Yarra Valley Classic - Vera ZVONAREVA (RUS) vs. Kristyna PLISKOVA (CZE)
Yarra Valley Classic - Vera LAPKO (BLR) vs. [7] Petra MARTIC (CRO)
Yarra Valley Classic - [8] Marketa VONDROUSOVA (CZE) vs. Varvara GRACHEVA (RUS)