World No 1 Ashleigh Barty, coming off wins at Wimbledon and Cincinnati, began her chase for back-to-back Slam titles by defeating Russian Vera Zvonareva 6-1, 7-6 (9/7) at the US Open on Tuesday.
Canadian sixth seed Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 US Open winner who skipped last year’s event outlasted Swiss Viktorija Golubic 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 after two hours and 48 minutes.
Olympic champion and 11th seed Belinda Bencic claimed an opening-round win over Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands, 6-4, 6-4 while
Iga Swiatek, seeded seventh, defeating American qualifier Jamie Loeb, 6-3, 6-4 in an hour and 14 minutes. On Wednesday, defending champion Naomi Osaka returned to the third round when her opponent withdrew because of illness.