Ash Barty, the No. 1 seed on the women’s side of the U.S. Open, held off 2010 runner-up Vera Zvonareva 6-1, 7-6 (7).
Barty won Wimbledon for her second major title and now is back in New York after remaining in Australia last year when the event was played with no fans because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“I was disappointed not to be able to come and play last year but I think playing here this year with fans makes it all the better,” Barty said.
No. 4 seed Karolina Pliskova, the 2016 U.S. Open runner-up who lost to Barty in the Wimbledon final, beat American teenager Caty McNally 6-3, 6-4. Belinda Bencic, the women’s Olympic gold medalist seeded 11th, beat Arantxa Rus 6-4, 6-4, and No. 17 seed Maria Sakkari topped Marta Kostyuk 6-4, 6-3.
This article was originally published by Espn.com. Read the original article here.