Kerber, Kvitova, Wozniacki win first up at US Open

Fourth seed Angelique Kerber banished memories of last year’s US Open first-round by disposing of Russian Margarita Gasparyan 7-6(5) 6-3 to advance on Tuesday.

Kerber, who won just one match across her lead-in events at Montreal and Cincinnati after winning Wimbledon, will face Johanna Larsson in the second round in New York.

It’s a more positive start to the tournament Kerber won two years ago; as the defending champion in 2017 she won just four games in a first-round loss to Naomi Osaka.

NEWS: Federer cruises past Nishioka into second round

“I think we both played at a really high level,” Kerber said. “I was really happy to play the first round like this. Focusing on my serve, moving good.”

Meanwhile, Czech fifth seed Petra Kvitova beat Belgian Yanina Wickmayer 6-1 6-4 in what was an encouraging sign in a year of Grand Slam flops.

Kvitova has enjoyed impressive success on the WTA tour this year but fell in the first round of the Australian Open and Wimbledon, and the third round at Roland Garros.

She next lines up against China’s Yafan Wang, hoping to replicate the form that has taken her to the second week in New York for the past three years.

Earlier, Danish second seed Caroline Wozniacki progressed with a 6-3 6-2 win over 2011 US Open champion Samantha Stosur to tee up a date with Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko.

Wozniacki won the Australian Open title in January, a maiden Grand Slam trophy that briefly returned her to world No.1.

Last year’s French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko sweated out a 6-4 4-6 7-5 win over German Andrea Petkovic to reach the second round as the heat was turned up at Flushing Meadows.

With the thermometer pushing towards 38 degrees Celsius, the pair battled for two hours and 18 minutes under a ferocious sun before the 10th-seeded Latvian ended the marathon on her fourth match point, sending the few remaining spectators at the Louis Armstrong Stadium court scrambling to find shade.

“A very tough match. She was fighting for every point until the end,” said Ostapenko, who will meet American Taylor Townsend in the second round.

“It was very humid and also very hot, but it was the same for both of us. I mean, we had to deal with it.”

Ostapenko may have benefitted from an uninspiring build-up to the season’s final Grand Slam event, crashing out in the first round at Montreal and Cincinnati to leave her fresh going into her opener.

In other results, British No.1 Johanna Konta, not seeded at a Grand Slam for the first time since Australian Open 2016, suffered a 6-2 6-2 defeat to French sixth seed Caroline Garcia.

American CoCo Vandeweghe – a semi-finalist last year – crashed to a 6-3 7-6(3) loss to Belgian Kirsten Flipkens.