Ashleigh Barty has moved into the third round of the Canadian Open with victory over Belgium’s Alison Van Uytvanck.

World No.16 Barty, who is seeded 15th in Montreal, prevailed 7-6 (9-7) 6-2 over Van Uytvanck, who beat defending Garbine Muguruza at Wimbledon last month.

Van Uytvanck spurned two set points in the opening set before the Australian closed out a tense tiebreaker.

Boosted by that Barty broke the Belgian three times in the second set to close out the win in one hour and 22 minutes.

She will face Alize Cornet in the round of 16 after the unseeded Frenchwoman stunned Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber 6-4 6-1.

The win was Cornet’s 17th over a top-10 opponent and sets her up for a second meeting with Barty, who she beat in the opening round of the 2014 French Open.

German fourth seed Kerber wilted in the sticky heat in her first match since Wimbledon.

“It is one match, I know I have to learn from it,” she said.

“I took a few weeks off after Wimbledon so I knew I had to come here, play a lot of matches, and also to get used to the hard courts again.”

US Open champion Sloane Stephens made light work of local hope Francoise Abanda in recording a 6-0 6-2 win.

Maria Sharapova continued her bid to climb back to the top of women’s tennis with a 6-0 6-2 victory over 12th-seeded compatriot Daria Kasatkina.

“I’ve had all types of matches in my career,” Sharapova, now world No.22, said.

“I’ll take what I can get as long as I’m the one getting a chance to play the next match.”

The Russian will face sixth-seeded Caroline Garcia of France in the third round.

Defending champion Elina Svitolina of Ukraine led Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 4-3 when the Romanian retired because of an ankle injury.

Unseeded Kiki Bertens, the world No.18, overcame ninth-seeded Karolina Pliskova 6-2 6-2 to advance to a match-up with eighth-seeded Petra Kvitova.

Belgian 14th seed Elise Mertens, Anastasija Sevastova and Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro, after her opponent retired, all progressed to the round of 16.