By Chris Oddo | Monday August 29, 2016
Angelique Kerber didn't drop a game and hardly broke a sweat on Day 1 of the U.S. Open.
Photo Source: Michael Reaves/Getty
Angelique Kerber needed just 33 minutes to move into the second round, and she didn’t drop a game. The No. 2 seed held a 6-0, 1-0 lead over Polona Hercog when the Slovenian pulled the plug due to an injury on Monday at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Denter in Queens.
More: U.S. Open Day 1 Live Blog
Kerber, who has a very good shot of reaching No. 1 by the end of the U.S. Open, advances to the second round where she will face either Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.
“To be honest, it's never the way I would like to finish the match, but I went out there to feel my rhythm and start the tournament well,” she said. “I played the first set really good, so this is what I will take from this match, that I'm playing my tennis.”
Kerber improves to 48-14 on the season with the victory, and 30-8 on hard courts. “I have a lot of confidence, especially also from the last few weeks and from the whole year, actually. I mean, I'm playing my best tennis now.”
Last year’s surprise runner-up and instant sensation in New York, Italy’s Roberta Vinci, returned to Arthur Ashe stadium with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Germany’s Anna-Lena Friedsam in the day’s first match on the big court.
“Was great to be back here to play on center court first match,” said Vinci. “Yeah, it's incredible to be here. It's pass one year, so [it feels] like yesterday. But I had of course a great memory—but today just think about the match and keep the positive things of the last year.”
Vinci will face American Christina McHale in round two.
Other seeded winners on Day 1 were 11th-seeded Petra Kvitova, who defeated Jelena Ostapenko, 7-5, 6-3, 9th-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova, who eased past Italy’s Francesca Schiavone, 6-1, 6-2, and 24th-seeded Belinda Bencic, who defeated American Samantha Crawford, 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-4.