Winning start for Stosur in Washington, Cornet advances
Samantha Stosur was on court for under an hour at the Citi Open, while Alize Cornet made a winning start at the Bank of the West Classic.
Samantha Stosur barely raised a sweat in her first-round win at the WTA Citi Open in Washington on Monday.
The top seed needed less than an hour to dispose of Alla Kudryavtseva 6-3 6-0 in warm conditions in the American capital.
Russian Kudryavtseva refused to surrender early, keeping the opening set on serve until the eighth game as Stosur broke for a 5-3 lead.
Stosur never looked back from that point, serving out the set before winning the next six games in succession to close out the contest in just 57 minutes.
Next up for Stosur is former world number one Caroline Wozniacki.
Wozniacki advanced to the second round via a routine 6-1 6-1 win over Japanese lucky loser Hiroko Kuwata on a day when inclement weather halted play.
Yanina Wickmayer – the seventh seed – also progressed after overcoming Madison Brengle 7-5 6-4, and sixth seed Yulia Putintseva outlasted Varvara Flink 7-5 7-5.
In other results, Aleksandra Wozniak lost to Jessica Pegula 6-2 6-2, Shuai Zhang trumped Lin Zhu 7-5 6-4 in an all-Chinese affair, and Usue Maitane Arconada saw off Francoise Abanda 7-6 (7-3) 6-4.
At the Bank of the West Classic, Alize Cornet rallied to victory on day one of the tournament in Stanford.
Cornet dropped the first set against Jennifer Brady but the French seventh seed fought back to triumph 3-6 6-4 6-4.
American Nicole Kibbs eliminated Carol Zhao 6-2 4-6 6-3, Nao Hibino prevailed 7-5 4-6 6-4 against Veronica Cepede Royg and Ana Bogdan was a 6-4 5-7 6-3 victor over Asia Muhammad.
Maria Mateas was beaten 7-5 6-1 by Saisai Zheng, while Misaki Doi avoided embarrassment with a 6-0 2-6 6-2 win over Xinyun Han.