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Mertens, the 14th seed, won five break points
to dispatch Bouchard, who has fallen to 129th in the world after
reaching a career-high of fifth in 2014 -- the year she reached
the Wimbledon final.
Home hopes now rest on 21-year-old Francoise Abanda, who
defeated qualifier Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium 6-3 6-2.
British number one Johanna Konta fired eight aces en route to a
6-7(6) 6-1 6-2 upset win over 11th-seeded Latvian Jelena
Ostapenko.
Konta, who handed Serena Williams the worst loss of her career
at the Silicon Valley Classic last month, will face former world
number one Victoria Azarenka in the second round on Wednesday.
Azarenka was in complete control as she strolled to a 6-0 6-1
win over Kristina Mladenovic of France in a match that lasted
less than an hour.
Daria Kasatkina, seeded 12th, beat rising Greek talent Maria
Sakkari 6-4 4-6 6-1 to set up her first career meeting against
fellow Russian Maria Sharapova in the second round on Wednesday.
Other players to advance from the first round on Tuesday
included Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro and Russian Anastasia
Pavlyuchenkova, who will face top-seeded Simona Halep on
Wednesday.
Sixth seed Caroline Garcia of France and eighth-seeded Czech
Petra Kvitova advanced to the third round with wins over Slovak
Magdalena Rybarikova and Estonian Anett Kontaveit.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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