Ashleigh Barty of Australia plays a forehand return to Coco Gauff of the United States during their singles match at the Adelaide International Tennis Tournament, at Memorial Drive, in Adelaide, Australia on Jan 5, 2022. (MATT TURNER / AAP IMAGE VIA AP)

World No 1 Ashleigh Barty of Australia kicked off her 2022 season with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 victory over American Coco Gauff at the Adelaide International on Wednesday.

The top-seeded Barty, 25, had not played the since the US Open in early September.

The two-time Grand Slam winner lost in the second round here in 2021 to American Danielle Collins. Adelaide is a warm-up for the Australian Open, which begins on Jan 17.

The 17-year-old Gauff defeated an injured Barty in their only previous meeting in Rome last year.

It's great to come out here and I think I played a pretty good quality match considering it was the first match in a few months. Coco (Gauff) played great, she forced me to hit a lot of balls tonight and I feel like I got better and better as the match went on.

Ashleigh Barty, World number one tennis player

"This old body might be a little sore tomorrow I think," Barty said after the match Wednesday. "It's great to come out here and I think I played a pretty good quality match considering it was the first match in a few months. Coco played great, she forced me to hit a lot of balls tonight and I feel like I got better and better as the match went on."

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In other action, Shelby Rogers eliminated No 3 seed Maria Sakkari of Greece 7-6 (5), 2-6, 6-4. She set up a quarterfinals match with No 7 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, a 6-3, 6-4 winner over Czech qualifier Marie Bouzkova. Kaja Juvan of Slovenia upset No 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 7-6 (6), 6-1.

Melbourne Summer Set 1

No 2 seed Simona Halep of Romania got off to a good start, defeating Destanee Aiava of Australia 6-4, 6-2 in her opening match in Melbourne.

No 3 Veronika Kudermetova of Russia had a much more difficult time advancing, pushed to the limits by Slovakia's Viktoria Kuzmova 7-6 (4), 7-6 (6) in their first-round match.

Coco Gauff of the United States plays a backhand return to Ashleigh Barty of Australia during their singles match at the Adelaide International Tennis Tournament, at Memorial Drive, in Adelaide, Australia on Jan 5, 2022. (MATT TURNER / AAP IMAGE VIA AP)

Anna Bondar of Hungary ousted Czech Katerina Siniakova, the No 8 seed, 7-5, 7-6 (8). Madison Brengle also moved on with a 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4) win over Nao Hibino of Japan.

Melbourne Summer Set 2

Claire Liu rallied from a set down to upset No 8 seed Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in Melbourne.

Another American, Madison Keys, also was victorious, a 6-3, 7-6 (2) winner over Harriet Dart of Great Britain.

READ MORE: Sakkari reaches Adelaide International second round

In other action, No 3 seed Daria Kasatkina advanced over fellow Russian Anna Kalinskaya 6-1, 3-0 in a walkover. Kamilla Rakhimova of Russia defeated Greet Minnen of Belgium 7-5, 7-5, and Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus topped Xinyu Wang of China 6-4, 6-2.