Australia: Marin Cilic continued his comeback from a doping ban with a 7-5, 7-5 win over fifth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov on Wednesday at the Brisbane International, while injury withdrawals reduced the women's draw.
Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki pulled out before her scheduled second-round match against Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland due to a stomach illness and Maria Sharapova got a walkover into the quarterfinals when Australian teenager Ashleigh Barty withdrew due a leg injury.
Fifth-seeded Angelique Kerber advanced when Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia retired during their second-round match with a left leg injury. Kerber was leading 6-2, 4-3 against last year's tournament runner-up.
Cilic is in his second tournament back following a four-month ban for testing positive for a banned stimulant in May. He claimed he didn't intend to ingest the substance, which was in a glucose tablet bought at a pharmacy.
After his win over Dimitrov - last year's losing finalist in Brisbane - Cilic said playing again "feels like a new beginning for me."
"I'm thinking about everything around myself in a different perspective," said Cilic, who reached a career-high No. 9 in 2010 but finished last season at No. 37. "I'm excited to be in the season and to play, to be back on the tour after all that misery last year. "
He'll next play second-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan, who eased to a 6-2, 6-2 win over Australia's Matthew Ebden.
Later Wednesday, top-seeded Roger Federer was scheduled to play his first singles match at Brisbane against Finland's Jarkko Nieminen, and the United States team of John Isner and Sloane Stephens was set to play France at the Hopman Cup at Perth.
The winner of the Federer-Nieminen match will advance to a quarterfinal against Australia's Marinko Matosevic, who beat American Sam Querrey 5-7, 7-6 (3), 6-4.
In Auckland, New Zealand former world No. 1 players Venus Williams and Ana Ivanovic moved closer to a semifinal meeting when they won second-round matches at the WTA's ASB Classic.
Williams overcame a rusty start to beat Yvonne Meusburger of Austria 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 while second-seeded Ivanovic defeated Sweden's Johanna Larsen 6-1, 6-1.
Rain briefly halted the first set of the Williams match at 1-1 and the American dropped serve when the match resumed after 15 minutes. She claimed the break back but dropped serve again to lose the opening set in 41 minutes.
"I was in a hole early on because she was playing so well," Williams said. "At the beginning of the year matches are much more intense than practice so sometimes you get a little niggly here and there. That's what I'm experiencing but the adrenaline of matches really helps."
The injury jinx extended to next week's Sydney International, where organizers of the ATP-WTA tournament said Nicolas Almagro of Spain had withdrawn with a shoulder injury.
Former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki trained for the Sydney International on Wednesday just hours after announcing that she and golfer Rory McIlroy were engaged to be married.
McIlroy apparently used the New Year's Eve fireworks display on Sydney Harbour as the backdrop for his proposal.
Wozniacki, who withdrew from the Brisbane International after injuring her right shoulder, posted a photo of her diamond engagement ring.
"Happy New Year everyone! Rory and I started 2014 with a bang! ... I said YES," Wozniacki tweeted.
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