TOKYO — Caroline Wozniacki’s return game is one of her best weapons.
The former world No. 1 used her serve to advance to the Tokyo second round.
Wozniacki whipped 10 aces defeating 2015 finalist Belinda Bencic, 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 at the Ariake Coliseum.
The 28th-ranked Dane posted her sixth win in her last seven matches. Wozniacki, who reached the US Open semifinals earlier this month, will face fourth-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro in round two.
Wild card Petra Kvitova saved all six break points she faced in a 6-3, 6-3 sweep of American Madison Brengle.
The 26-year-old Czech, twice a winner of Wimbledon, had too much firepower for Brengle in a match played under a closed roof due to typhoon rains in Tokyo.
The victory vaults Kvitova, the 2013 Tokyo champion, into a rematch with Monica Puig, who defeated Kvitova en route to winning the gold medal at the Rio Olympic Games last month.
Dominika Cibulkova rallied for a 4-6, 6-1, 7-5, victory over US Open doubles champion Lucie Safarova. The sixth-seeded Cibulkova will face Japanese wild card Naomi Osaka for a place in the last eight.
Elina Svitolina broke serve four times in a 6-3, 6-4 decision over CoCo Vandeweghe. Next up for Svitolina is a second-round clash with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. The eighth-seeded Russian held a 6-4, 2-0 lead over Andrea Petkovic, when the German retired.
Jankovic marches ahead
In Beijing, defending champion Jelena Jankovic of Serbia sailed through her opening match at the WTA Guangzhou Open Tuesday, joining German Sabine Lisicki in the second round.
The 31-year-old former world No. 1 eased past China’s You Xiaodi 6-2, 6-1, while 2013 Wimbledon finalist Lisicki beat Kwan Yau Ng of Hong Kong 6-2, 6-0.
China’s Peng Shuai beat compatriot and eighth seed Zheng Saisai 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 and is scheduled to face Lisicki in the next round.
Jankovic will be confronting 21-year-old Swede Rebecca Peterson, listed as 124th in the WTA rankings.
Twenty-year-old Estonian Anett Kontaveit made a strong showing, knocking out seventh seed Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-1 in a mere 54 minutes.
Begu advances at Korea
Top seed and defending champion Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania overpowered local Jang Su-jeong 6-2, 6-1 to advance to the second round of the Korea Open Tuesday.
Begu dominated the South Korean wild card with powerful groundstrokes for her first match win since the start of August, when she won her third career title in Florianopolis. In ending a four-match losing streak, including at the Olympics and US Open, Begu lined up Jana Cepelova of Slovakia, a semifinalist in Tokyo last week.
Second-seeded Johanna Larsson of Sweden rallied to beat Grace Min of the US 0-6, 6-2, 6-2, and third-seeded Zhang Shuai of China outlasted Maria Sakkari of Greece 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
Fourth-seeded Kristina Mladenovic of France beat qualifier Luksika Kumkhum of Thailand 6-2, 7-5.
Ramos-Vinolas falls
In Russia, sixth-seeded Albert Ramos-Vinolas lost in the first round of the St. Petersburg Open in straight sets to French qualifier Alexandre Sidorenko Tuesday.
The St. Petersburg-born Sidorenko, playing his first tour-level match this year, produced some timely big serves to win 7-5, 6-2 against his Spanish opponent, who at 32nd in the world was ranked 223 places above Sidorenko.
There was a tense finish as Sidorenko wasted two match points, the second with a double fault, before serving out the win.
He next plays either Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi or German qualifier Mischa Zverev. — Agencies
