The first ever Bronx Open got underway at the Cary Leeds Center with the first round of qualifying. Taking the place of the now defunct Connecticut Open, the Crotona-based event featured 24 matches with a number of one-sided contests.
Teichmann, Siegemund among opening round victors
The first match to be completed in tournament history was Laura Siegemund winning against 17-year old Natasha Subash by a 6-0, 6-2 scoreline. The German won the first ten games of the match, breaking the teenager's serve five times en route to the 63-minute triumph.
"I'm happy with my first round here", Siegemund said. "It's my first tournament on hard courts this year. I'm just trying to get my move. Against a young player, it's always a little bit difficult because you don't know what to expect. I was happy with how I handled it."
Top seed Jil Teichmann had no problems with Japan's Hiroko Kuwata, emerging with a 6-2, 6-1 victory. The Swiss, champion in Prague and Palermo, broke in the second and eighth games of the first set. At 1-1 in the second, the world number 55 reeled off five consecutive games to close out the match.
"I had a good match. I was feeling great and i'm happy with my win", the Swiss said.
Kanepi outlasts Bouchard in over two hours
The marquee match of the day was between Kaia Kanepi and Eugenie Bouchard. Breaks were traded in the second and the third games of the match and at 4-3, Kanepi broke again and served for the set only to see Bouchard strike back.
The Canadian was unable to hold on to her own serve and the Estonian had claimed the first set. The former world number 114 was quickly up a double break in the second set at 4-1 and despite giving one of the breaks back, she took the middle set 6-3.
The final set saw the exact opposite of the second set as Kanepi went ahead 4-1 with a double break edge. After handing one of the breaks back, the fifth seed closed out the match, winning 6-3 in the third to progress.
Potapova, Ferro, Golubic among other seeded winners
Also booking their spots in round two were second seed fiona Ferro, who survived a near collapse in the second set to move on with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Grace Min. The Frenchwoman led 5-1 only to see the American win three straight games before Ferro held on.
Third seed Viktorija Golubic made quick work of Lidziya Marozava 6-3, 6-1 while fourth seed Anastasia Potapova dismantled Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-0, 6-1 in just over an hour.
Americans have mixed day
Among the ladies advancing from the host country was Claire Liu, who upset Aleksandra Krunic 7-5, 7-5 as well as Sophie Chang, who knocked off Galina Voskoboeva 6-2, 6-4. In a battle of Americans, wild card Elizabeth Mandlik took care of Jennifer Elie 6-4, 6-4 and Maria Sanchez beating Panna Udvardy 6-2, 6-4.
Joining Subhash and Min on the sidelines was Elysia Bolton, who fell to Nadiia Kichenok 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3) and Alexa Noel, beaten by Lin Zhu 6-4, 6-2. Francesca Di Lorenzo was given a walkover by seventh seed Zarina Diyas while Whitney Osiguwe recieved a bye after Kristie Ahn was moved to the main draw.
The rest of the results
In the remaining matches, sixth seed Magda Linette had no issues with Gabriela Dabrowski, winning 6-2, 6-1, eighth seed Pauline Parmentier swept aside Samantha Stosur 6-2, 6-3, 11th seed Anna Blinkova crushed Emily Webley-Smith 6-2, 6-0 and 12th seed Natalia Vikhlyantseva battled past Shuko Aoyama 7-5, 6-4.
In a battle of up-and-comers, Astra Sharma came from behind to defeat Aliona Bolsova 3-6, 6-1, 6-1, Belinda Woolcock defeated Nika Kuharchuk 6-4, 7-6 (1), Jana Fett got past Renata Voracova 6-3, 6-3, Ying-Ying Duan thrashed Oksana Kalashnikova 6-2, 6-1, Zhaoxuan Yang fought past Junri Namigata 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (2) and Mayo Hibi was forced to retire despite leading Xiaodi You retired down 6-1, 2-0.