New York: Fourth seed Marion Bartoli began her final warm-up to the US Open in impressive style by blasting Australian qualifier Anastasia Rodionova 6-1, 6-4 in first round action at the New Haven Open.
The 26-year-old Frenchwoman, one of four top 10 players taking part in the US Open tune-up, was forced to save three break points in the opening but was never threatened in setting up a second round meeting with Czech Klara Zakopalova.
Fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland cruised into the second round by pounding Russia's Ekaterina Makarova 6-1, 6-2 while eighth seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova came out on top of an all-Russian clash rallying past Vera Dushevina 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
World number one Caroline Wozniacki arrives in New Haven searching for some hard court form after suffering opening match losses in her last two tournaments.
The Dane, who received a first round bye, could not hope for a better place to discover some hard court success ahead of the US Open as she will attempt to become the 10th player in the Open Era to win the same WTA title in four straight years.
Bureau Report
First Published: Tuesday, August 23, 2011, 08:57