Vekic too good for Bouchard

 

Originally published on 09/08/17 00:00

The Croatian, who battled through qualifying to earn her berth in the main draw, dismissed the home-favourite 6-3 6-4 in one hour and 34 minutes.

"It was a very tough match, but I'm happy to have won it in two sets,” beamed Vekic. "I knew she would try to be aggressive and look to take the ball early. I was struggling a bit with my serve because she was so aggressive and returning very well. To get rhythm was quite tough, but I tried to stay in the point and run for every ball."

No.10 seed, Agnieszka Radwanska, made it five wins from six over Coco Vandeweghe as she dismissed the American – who reached the final in Stanford last week – 6-3 6-2.

After winning her first outing since Wimbledon, the Pole said: “I’m very happy that I could play my best tennis today from the first point – especially here where conditions are pretty different from everywhere else.”

Elsewhere on the grounds, Elena Vesnina breezed past Alison Riske 6-3 6-3, Caroline Garcia won a big-hitting contest with Sorana Cirstea 6-2 6-7(4) 6-4 and Catherine Bellis maintained her impressive form with a hard-fought 4-6 6-3 6-2 triumph over Julia Goerges.

Ekaterina Makarova, the champion at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C. last week, overcame Shuai Peng 6-1 6-3 and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova conceded just one game as she eased past Alize Cornet.

There were also first round wins for Wimbledon semi-finalist, Magdalena Rybarikova, and Ashleigh Barty – who was required to play just five games before her opponent, Oceane Dodin, retired injured.

In the first evening match on Grandstand Court, Elina Svitolina began her quest for a fifth title of the season with a hard-earned 7-6(4) 6-4 victory over Daria Kasatkina.

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