Muchova advances, Zhang ousted in Bronx Open

[August 20, 2019]  (Reuters) - Czech Republic's 10th seed Karolina Muchova beat Slovakia's Viktoria Kuzmova 7-5 6-2 to move into the second round of the Bronx Open while fourth seed Zhang Shuai was knocked out in straight sets on Monday.

Muchova, who reached her first Grand Slam quarter-final at Wimbledon last month, won an incredible 93% of her first serve points. She did not face a single break point in the match, wrapping up the contest in 69 minutes.

The 22-year-old Czech will now play American wildcard Kristie Ahn who beat Switzerland's Jil Teichmann earlier in the day.

Zhang, another Wimbledon quarter-finalist this year, was knocked out by Germany's Andrea Petkovic, who broke the Chinese five times in a 6-3 6-4 victory.

Petkovic, ranked 55 places below her opponent, regularly attacked Zhang's second serve with powerful returns. Even though Zhang won four games in a row in the second set, she was no match for her big-hitting opponent.

Coco Vandeweghe, another American wildcard who was sidelined with an ankle injury for 10 months until her return to the tour last month, was knocked out 6-3 6-0 by Russia's Anna Blinkova.

Czech Republic's Karolina Muchova in action during her quarter final match against Ukraine's Elina Svitolina REUTERS/Carl Recine

Fifth seed Katerina Siniakova advanced at the expense of Wang Yafan with a straightforward 6-3 6-2 win.

Romania's Mihaela Buzarnescu saw off the challenge of Germany's Laura Siegemund despite dropping the opening set with a 3-6 6-0 6-4 victory.

(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; editing by Amlan Chakraborty)

[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.