Pan Pacific Open 2019: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova through to second round, Elise Mertens beats Whitney Osuigwe

Osaka: Former finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova needed less than an hour to beat Dayana Yastremska 6-3, 6-1 on Monday in the first round of the Toray Pan Pacific Open. [caption id=“attachment_5813091” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Reuters[/caption] Pavlyuchenkova, who lost the 2017 final to Caroline Wozniacki, went on a roll early in the second set to win 11 of the first 12 points and took a 4-0 lead before dropping serve. She broke at love in Yastremska’s next service game and quickly confirmed a spot in the second round against second-seeded Kiki Bertens. In other first-round matches, Elise Mertens beat Whitney Osuigwe 6-3, 6-1; Nicole Gibbs upset fellow American Alison Riske 6-4, 6-3; Zarina Diyas had a 6-0, 6-3 win over Olympic gold medalist Monica Puig; and Camila Giorgi held off qualifier Han Xinyun 7-6 (6), 6-1. Viktoriya Tomova needed 2 hours, 43 minutes to overcome Alizé Cornet 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. At the Korea Open in Seoul, second-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova opened with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Belgian qualifier Greet Minnen. Alexandrova, who had nine aces and broke Minnen’s serve four times, will next play Kristyna Pliskova, a 6-1, 6-4 winner over Korean wildcard entry Choi Ji-hee. Other seeded players advancing included No. 3 Magda Linette, who beat Irina-Camelia Begu 6-1, 6-4, No. 7 Margarita Gasparyan and No. 8 Wang Yafan. At the Guangzhou International in China, two seeded players were ousted on Monday, with 2017 finalist Aleksandra Krunic beating No 7 Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-4, 6-2 and Bernarda Pera advancing 6-4, 6-3 over eighth-seeded Ons Jabeur.