Azarenka, Stosur, Clijsters cruise at U.S. Open

The Belarusian Azarenka hardly broke a sweat in her opening match against
Alexandra Panova, dropping one game to the Russian. Panova recorded only two
winners in the 6-0, 6-1 thrashing at Louis Armstrong Stadium.

The seventh-seeded Stosur won her eighth straight match in New York with a
brisk 51-minute 6-1, 6-1 pasting of Croat Petra Martic at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Stosur won the first 19 points of the match and fired 10 aces past a helpless
Martic. The Aussie lost only four points while serving in the lopsided affair.

Stosur stunned American great Serena Williams in last year’s U.S. Open finale
to capture her lone career Grand Slam title. The Aussie star was also a French
Open runner-up in 2010.

“As soon as I got here, it was just a good feeling and excitement to be back
to a city that obviously brought me so much last year,” Stosur said.

The 28-year-old Stosur, who has been somewhat disappointing this year, was a
first-round loser at the Australian Open in January and Olympic Games last
month and lost in the second round at Wimbledon in June.

Clijsters extended her winning streak at Flushing Meadows to 22 matches with a
6-3, 6-1 triumph over 16-year-old American Victoria Duval, the youngest player
in the draw.

The 23rd-seeded Belgian, who is participating in the final tournament of her
career, won back-to-back U.S. Open titles in 2009-10, but she couldn’t contend
for a three-peat last year, missing the fortnight with an abdominal injury.

Third-seeded Russian Maria Sharapova, meanwhile, breezed past Hungarian
Melinda Czink 6-2, 6-2. The 2006 U.S. Open champ, Sharapova completed the
career Grand Slam earlier this year by winning at Roland Garros.

Czech Petra Kvitova, fresh off capturing a title at New Haven this past
weekend, rebounded from a slow start to post a 7-6 (8-6), 6-1 victory over
Slovenia’s Polona Hercog. The fifth-seeded Kvitova is this year’s U.S. Open
series champion, meaning she’ll earn a $1 million bonus for winning the final
major of 2012.

Ninth-seeded former French Open champ Li Na of China advanced following a
more-than-two-hour rain delay with a 6-2, 6-3 handling of Britain’s Heather
Watson, while 11th-seeded former Wimbledon runner-up Marion Bartoli of France
won her 18th straight first-round Grand Slam match by topping American Jamie
Hampton 6-3, 7-6 (7-5). Na was a hardcourt titlist in Cincinnati two weeks
ago.

In other action involving seeds, No. 15 Czech Lucie Safarova handled American
Melanie Oudin 6-4, 6-0, No. 17 Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova bested
Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova 6-4, 7-6 (7-1), No. 19 Russian Nadia Petrova beat
Aussie Jarmila Gajdosova 6-3, 7-6 (7-3), No. 25 Belgian Yanina Wickmayer
topped Julia Glushko of Israel 7-5, 6-2, and No. 31 American Varvara Lepchenko
outlasted Frenchwoman Mathilde Johansson 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.

Chinese Zheng Jie, seeded 28th, dropped the first set against Virginie
Razzano, but battled back to take the second before the Frenchwoman retired.

Upsets came when Romanian Sorana Cirstea overcame 16th-seeded German Sabine
Lisicki 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, Czech Kristyna Pliskova dismissed 18th-seeded German
Julia Goerges 7-6 (7-4), 6-1, and Czech Lucie Hradecka doused 27th-seeded
Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3, 6-3.

Also advancing were Romanian Simona Halep, Aussie Casey Dellacqua, Georgian
Anna Tatishvili, Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic, Luxembourg’s Mandy Minella,
Swiss Romina Oprandi, Spaniard Lourdes Dominguez Lino, American Mallory
Burdette, Frenchwoman Pauline Parmentier, Romanian Edina Gallovits-Hall,
Australian Anastasia Rodionova, Brit Laura Robson, France’s Alize Cornet,
Belgian Kirsten Flipkens, Slovakian Magdalena Rybarikova and Canadian
Aleksandra Wozniak.