Wozniacki, Kerber and Garcia pass first round at US Open with ease

The morning session of the second day of the 50th edition of the US Open met expectations as the favourites, such as Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki (2), Germany's Angelique Kerber (4) and France's Caroline Garcia (6), easily made it through the first round.

Wozniacki, who is looking for her second Grand Slam title of the season, beat Australian Samantha Stosur on Tuesday, who won the 2011 US Open, 6-3, 6-2 in one hour and 23 minutes.

The 13th duel between the two players had no surprises as Stosur was her own worst enemy, making 33 unforced errors against just 12 by Wozniacki, the current Australian Open champion, who now has a record of 8-5 in their encounters, reports Efe news.

Wozniacki's next opponent will be Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko, world number 42, who beat Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck 6-3, 6-2.

The match between the two will only be their second as professionals with Wozniacki winning the previous one.

Kerber had to do a bit more work in her debut in the tournament when she overcame a tie-break in the first set to eventually win the match 7-6 (5) and 6-3 against Russia's Margarita Gasparyan.

Kerber, US Open champion in 2016, will have as her next opponent Sweden's Johanna Larsson, No. 81 in the world rankings, who won 4-6, 6-3 and 6-2 against French Alize Cornet.

The duel between Kerber, the world's twenty-first, and Cornet will be their fourth as professionals with a 3-0 record for the 30-year-old German tennis player.

Caroline Garcia had no troubles against England's Johanna Konta, the world number 46, winning with a comfortable final score of 6-2 and 6-2.

Garcia, 24, will have Puerto Rican Monica Puig as her next opponent after Puig managed a perfect score of 6-0 and 6-0 against Switzerland's Stefanie Voegele.

Dutch Kiki Bertens, the thirteenth seed, beat Czech Kristyna Pliskova 6-0, 7-5, and Japan's Naomi Osaka, the 20th seeded, beat Germany's Laura Siegemund 6-3, 6-2.

On the other hand, the US's CoCo Vandeweghe, the 24th seeded, was unable to make it through the round, losing 2-6, 6-7 (3) to Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium.

--IANS

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