Freshly crowned Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina and two-time Wimbledon titlist Petra Kvitova were among the Grand Slam champions who won on Day 1 of the Western & Southern Open.
Take a look at the results below:
Elena Rybakina d. Mayar Sherif 6-3, 6-2
Rybakina continued to settle into her new status as Grand Slam titlist with an efficient and focused first-round win. Sherif, playing the second match of her comeback from a foot injury that had sidelined her for two months, proved intermittently dangerous. The No.58-ranked Egyptian struck her heavy forehand with relish and ultimately tallied some impressive stats, finding 11 winners to five unforced errors.
Indeed, Sherif led by a break at 3-2 in the first set. But from that point Rybakina settled into a groove on serve, backed up by several lethal backhands. The Kazakh saved all four further break points against her to reel off 10 of the next 12 games, and finished with 13 winners to 11 unforced errors.
Petra Kvitova def. Jil Teichmann 6-7(2), 7-6(6), 6-3
Two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova saved a match point on her way to ousting last year's Western & Southern Open finalist Teichmann. Making her 11th Cincinnati appearance (tied for the most at the event), Kvitova held on to prevail after 2 hours and 47 minutes.
Highlights: Kvitova def. Teichmann
World No.21 Teichmann held a 2-1 head-to-head lead coming into the battle of left-handers against 23rd-ranked Kvitova. Teichmann nearly won in two tiebreak sets, saving a set point at 5-4 in the second set and holding her match point at 6-5 in the second-set tiebreak.
But former World No.2 Kvitova found a big serve to set up a forehand winner and erase that match point, then leveled the match with a putaway on her second set point. In the third set, Kvitova won all 16 of her first-service points and was never broken, completing the comeback.
Veronika Kudermetova d. Barbora Krejcikova 6-3, 6-3
Only one place separates Krejcikova and Kudermetova in this week's rankings, with Krejcikova holding a mere two-point lead at No.19 to Kudermetova's No.20. But their momentum is carrying them in opposite directions, something that Kudermetova's 74-minute victory underlined.
The only previous time the two had met was a significant milestone for Krejcikova, who won 6-2, 6-2 in the final round of 2018 Roland Garros qualifying to make her Grand Slam main-draw debut. Three years later, she would be crowned singles champion in Paris.
But the Czech has struggled to regain that form since returning from an elbow injury two months ago. Her record since coming back is 5-7, and this result means that she is on a three-match losing streak.
Conversely, Kudermetova's 2022 has been highlighted by three finals, two further semifinals (including two weeks ago in San Jose), a maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal at Roland Garros and a Top 20 debut last month. Her season record is now 29-15.
Victoria Azarenka def. Kaia Kanepi 6-3, 4-6, 6-3
Two-time Australian Open champion Azarenka overcame one of the tour's upset specialists, 37-year-old Kanepi, in 2 hours and 13 minutes. Azarenka, who was the Cincinnati champion in 2013 and 2020, converted half of her 16 break points to grab the win.
The veterans faced off twice in 2009, with Azarenka winning both meetings in straight sets, the second of the two in Cincinnati. The pair had unbelievably not met since then, but 13 years later, they battled once more, and it was Azarenka who retained her undefeated record.
Highlights: Azarenka d. Kanepi
Kanepi finally won her first set against Azarenka, and the third set was topsy-turvy with the first four games going to the returner. However, Azarenka finally held for 3-2, then broke Kanepi for a third straight time to lead 4-2, and the former World No.1 eased to the win from there.
[WC] Sloane Stephens def. Alizé Cornet 6-1, 6-0
In the last match of the day, 2017 US Open champion Stephens cruised past Cornet in exactly 1 hour. In the first meeting between the pair, Stephens won 75 percent of points returning the Cornet first delivery, and Cornet was unable to hold serve all night.
Former World No.3 Stephens will test her blistering form against World No.1 Iga Swiatek in the second round.
More first-round highlights: Riske-Amritraj d. Sorribes Tormo | McNally d. Sasnovich | Tomljanovic d. Townsend
