Kristina Mladenovic comfortably through in Acapulco

28 February 2017 05:08

Second seed Kristina Mladenovic swept into the second round of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco with a comfortable victory over Varvara Lepchenko.

The Frenchwoman needed just an hour and 15 minutes to secure the 6-2 6-3 victory over the American.

"It felt great to play the first match on Central," Mladenovic said after the victory. "I was actually really surprised at the schedule, you know, to open up the tournament on the centre court.

"It was difficult for me, too, because I arrived just two days ago from Dubai. I'm still a bit jetlagged and it's totally different conditions here, but I'm just very happy with the win."

Mladenovic will face Heather Watson in the second round after the Briton's 7-5 6-3 win over American wildcard Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

Number eight seed Andrea Petkovic was made to work hard by Jamie Loeb before eventually coming through a 2-6 6-1 6-3 winner.

Lesia Tsurenko eased past Chloe Paquet 6-2 6-1 and Kirsten Flipkens got the better of Renata Zarazua 7-5 6-7 (1/7) 6-1.

Shelby Rogers beat Louisa Chirico 6-2 6-2, while Pauline Parmentier advanced after a 7-5 6-7 (6/8) 6-2 win over Nicole Gibb.

At the Malaysian Open, fifth seed Ying-Ying Duan advanced with a 7-5 6-3 win over Zarina Diyas but the seventh-seeded Elise Mertens is on her way home after a 6-4 7-6 (7/4) defeat to Lesley Kerkhove.

She was not the only seed to see her tournament ended early as number eight seed Cagla Buyukakcay was beaten 6-2 3-6 6-4 by Risa Ozaki.

There were also wins for Nao Hibino, Sara Sorribes Tormo, Saisai Zheng, Kai-Lin Zhang and Ashleigh Barty.

Source: PA