Top-seeded Karolina Pliskova has advanced in straight sets at the U.S. Open.
Pliskova surged ahead of Anhelina Kalinina 4-1 in the opening set, lost three games in a row, then took the last eight for a 6-4, 6-0 victory. She had a 26-7 edge in winners.
Pliskova is ranked third in the world but has the top seed in New York.
Three-time Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber is sticking around longer at Flushing Meadows than she did a year ago.
Kerber eliminated Ajla Tomljanovic 6-4, 6-4 in a nearly empty Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Kerber won the 2016 U.S. Open but lost in the first round a year ago. She used to be ranked No. 1 and is seeded 17th in New York.
Marketa Vondrousova is the first winner of a match at the 2020 U.S. Open — and of any Grand Slam match since early February.
The 2019 French Open runner-up, who is seeded 12th in New York, beat Greet Minnen 6-1, 6-4.
Grand Slam tennis is back in action for the first time in nearly seven full months as the U.S. Open gets started without spectators amid the coronavirus pandemic.
There are about 15 people, including reporters, scattered in the stands of an arena that holds about 14,000.
The professional tennis tours were on hiatus from March until August because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The last Grand Slam matches were at the Australian Open, which ended in early February. The French Open was postponed from May to late September, and Wimbledon was canceled for the first time since World War II.
