Ashleigh Barty has defeated wild card Marketa Vondrousova in two tough sets to progress to the second round of the Cincinnati Open.

Australian 16th seed Barty won the important points against the Czech wild card to secure a 6-3 7-5 win in one hour and 32 minutes.

She joins fellow Australian Ajla Tomljanovic in the second round of the WTA event and will meet Estonian Kaia Kanepi, who defeated fellow qualifier Varvara Lepchenko 2-6 6-3 6-1 in the first round.

French sixth seed Caroline Garcia overcame former world No.1 Victoria Azarenka 6-4 7-5 to become the first player through to the third round.

In other first-round action, Czech ninth seed Karolina Pliskova snapped a seven-match losing streak against Agnieszka Radwanska by claiming a 6-3 6-3 win.

“It was a tough round for me because I’ve never beaten her, never even taken a set,” Pliskova said during her on-court interview.

“Once we started, I just felt maybe this is gonna be the day, because I was just hitting the ball pretty clearly…

“My serve was OK today, not the best, but it was quite working, helped me saved some break points. I think everything was just great.”

Belgian 15th seed Elise Mertens recorded a 6-4 6-2 win over Magdalena Rybarikova while Greek Maria Sakkari continued her summer surge on tour with a 6-3 7-6 (10-8) victory over world No.19 Naomi Osaka.

“I think I played a great match, two great sets,” Sakkari said after the match.

“I have a clear idea of what I have to do on court now. If I could do it every single match, that’d be great, but I’m trying to do it more consistently.”

Others to progress to the second round on Tuesday were Ekaterina Makarova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Camila Giorgi, Kiki Bertens, Tatjana Maria and Amanda Anisimova.