It was a perfect start for Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar as they defeated Lidiannis 'Lidy' Echeverria and Leila Martinez of Cuba in straight sets (21-15, 21-14) in their Tokyo 2020 debut. 

The Australians looked dominant throughout their first preliminary pool match, breaking away early off the back of strong serving and power hitting to build a commanding 11-6 lead. The Aussie duo never relinquished their first set advantage, winning 21-15. 

The momentum of the match swung slightly in the second set, as the Cubans managed to fix the inconsistencies of their powerful game and put pressure on the Australians, tying it up at 11-11 in the second set. 

The Australians were able to halt the momentum of Lidy and Leila with exceptional defence by Artacho del Solar and impressive serving from Clancy.  

A hard spike down the line by Artacho del Solar closed out the match for the Australians who will take confidence from a strong Olympic opener. 

Clancy said that despite their brilliant performance, she and Artacho del Solar still had to deal with the emotions of a maiden game on Olympic centre court. 

"There are always some nerves, it was the first match and all of us athletes have been waiting for this moment for five years now," Clancy said. "But we're fortunate enough that this is our second Olympics, so we can have a bit more confidence and just take the time to work through it.

"We had a really good preparation and we felt confident after yesterday's training, so it was nice to keep that momentum going through. I really enjoyed competing again, even if there are no crowds, it still is a special moment."

"I always get super nervous at every game, no matter what level, so you can imagine at this level!" echoed Artacho del Solar. "But I use those nerves in a positive way. We did a really good job at starting strong. We knew these girls were a very physical team so we couldn't afford to warm up into the game.

"We had a really strong focus on the processes and didn't pay much attention to the score. We knew that if we trusted our processes and stayed patient, it was going to pay off. Also, we kept the communication up which was really important for us not to get into our heads and overthink," she said. 

Artacho del Solar said family of friends of the duo had a watch party and barbeque in Brisbane. 

"Friends and family back home put up a projector to watch us today, I think they'd just be feeling relief that we won well and didn't give them a heart attack!," Artacho del Solar said. 

Clancy and Artacho del Solar won't lack any confidence after getting the perfect start they were hoping for against Cuba. They will look to build on their winning streak when they take to the court against world number-18-ranked Marta Menegatti and Viktoria Orsi-Toth from Italy on Wednesday 28 July at 10pm AEST. 

Dominic Sullivan