Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza has advanced easily to the second round of the US Open, needing just an hour to beat American Varvara Lepchenko.
The third-seeded Spaniard looked efficient in the tournament’s first match on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court, firing 16 winners, twice as many as her opponent, in the 6-0 6-3 victory.
Muguruza is arguably the hottest player on the women’s tour and is considered one of the favourites, despite never having been past the second round at Flushing Meadows.
“Oh, I don’t really care, because I don’t feel, I don’t feel I’m a favourite here, because I never really played very good,” Muguruza said.
Seventh seed Johanna Konta was stunned by 78th-ranked Serbian Aleksandra Krunic 4-6 6-3 6-4.
Briton Konta was a semi-finalist at Wimbledon last month and was one of eight women who had a shot at the No.1 ranking going into the US Open.
Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, the 13th seed, beat former world No.1 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 7-5 7-5 on Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Other matches involving seeded players to finish quickly during Monday’s opening session included 18th seed Caroline Garcia of France defeating Czech Tereza Martincova 6-0 6-1 and 31st seed Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia defeating Italian Camila Giorgi 6-3 6-4.
Julia Goerges, the 30th seed beat fellow German Annika Beck 6-1 6-0 but 24th seed Kiki Bertens was a casualty, losing 6-3 6-4 to Maria Sakkari of Greece.
American 18-year-old wildcard Sofia Kenin upset 32nd seed Lauren Davis 7-5 7-5 to reach the second round of a grand slam for the first time in her career.
Czech Kristyna Pliskova was the first player to progress to the second round after dispatching Japan’s Misa Eguchi 6-2 6-2 in less than an hour.
Other first-round winners were American Sachia Vickery, France’s Alize Cornet, Croatia’s Donna Vekic, Chinese pair Duan Yingying and Zheng Saisai, Kateryna Kozlova of Ukraine and Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova.