The ladies seeds survived largely unscathed in a routine day for the start of 2016’s US Open. Garbine Muguruza looked like she was potentially heading for a disappointing exit as she dropped the first set 6-2 to Belgium's Elise Mertens. However the third seed picked her game up to breeze through the next set, winning 6-0 before finally finishing Mertens off in the final set to move onto the next round.
Kerber advances by way of retirement
Second seed Angelique Kerber was in cruise control against Polona Hercog before the latter retired 6-0 1-0 down with injury. The retirement came much to Donna Vekic’s annoyance as the Croatian player was the next lucky loser and would have made the main draw had Hercog withdrawn before the match.
classy https://t.co/6OVbrAnUaB
— Donna (@DonnaVekic) 29 August 2016
Wozniacki's first slam win of 2016
Caroline Wozniacki won her first Grand Slam match of 2016 coming back from a set down against Taylor Townsend. After losing the first set 6-4, the former world number one fought back taking the second set 6-3 before winning the last set which lasted almost an hour, 6-4. The Dane has fallen to a diminutive ranking of 51 in recent months and will be looking to claw back some ranking points.
Best of the rest
There were a few shocks dotted about as Puerto Rico's first ever Gold medallist Monica Puig bowed out to Saisai Zheng of China. Home favourite Coco Vandeweghe saw her US Open cut short as well as she fell to Naomi Osaka in an exciting three setter.
Sabine Lisicki’s miserable year continued as she was brushed aside by Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan. The former Wimbledon finalist now looks set to drop out of the top 100 when the rankings are next updated. Belinda Bencic won her first match since Wimbledon against Samantha Crawford as the Swiss player came back from a set down to end her losing streak of five matches.