IT was a stellar start to the United States at both the Strasbourg Open and Rabat Open fantasy tournaments with nine of the eleven American competitors making it through to the second round amongst a plethora of talented players. Meanwhile, Australia struggled to produce a win across both tournaments and plenty of matches came down to the wire.

At Strasbourg, six of the eight seeds remain after Elena Rybakina and Donna Vekic went down to their respective foes, shockingly both in straight sets and fairly convincingly at that. The duo’s results were reversed, with Rybakina having a strong start and petering off, while Vekic fought back but to no avail, seeing Camila Giorgi and Shuai Zheng proceed to the next round. Where Rybakina and Vekic failed, the likes of Aryna Sabalenka and Bianca Andreescu both collected solid victories in under an hour, while Dayana Yastremska had a tougher time against Latvian, Jelena Ostapenko though eventually came out on top, 7-5 3-6 6-2.

All three seeded Americans in first seed Sofia Kenin, Serena Williams (second seed) and Madison Keys (sixth) collected wins over quality opponents and will be joined by compatriots Amanda Anisimova, Coco Gauff and Sloane Stephens in the Round of 16. All three seeds had tough matches as both Williams and Keys were taken to three sets by their respective opposition in Sam Stosur and Saisai Zheng, while Kenin only just prevailed in a two hour two-setter, defeating Greet Minnen 7-5 7-6. Gauff and Stephens had similarly difficult matches while Anisimova dominated against French qualifier, Chloe Paquet. Meanwhile, Stosur’s compatriot in Astra Sharma met a similar end to her experienced company, going down to Xiyu Wang, 6-1 6-4.

A mixed bag of results finished off the round as young talent Iga Swiatek proved too strong for Polona Hercog despite a tight first set, while Caroline Garcia had a similarly solid match to defeat qualifying Italian, Francesca Di Lorenzo. Fellow qualifier Fiona Ferro pushed Victoria Azarenka to the brink however, as the Belarusian only just remained above water for the 7-6 7-5 victory, while Qiang Wang and Kateryna Kozlova battled it out in the marathon three hour match for the day, with Qiang eventually reigning supreme for the 7-5 5-7 7-5 victory.

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While Strasbourg saw American competitors dominate and all six proceed to the next round, at Rabat the story went a little differently with two of the five going down. Fourth seed Alison Riske was the big shock of the day going down to qualifier Mihaela Buzarnescu in straight sets, while Ann Li put up a strong fight but could not compete with Russian eighth seed, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Meanwhile, Venus Williams prevailed in a tight three set contest against Kristina Mladenovic and fellow compatriots in Taylor Townsend and Coco Vandeweghe continued their solid form with respective straight sets victories.

As for seeds, the remaining top five competitors reigned supreme, though three had tough battles to get through first. Among the tough matches, Maria Sakkari impressed against Spaniard, Sara Sorribes Tormo, showcasing some real depth to her game and coming back from the brink four games down to win the first set in a tiebreaker. The second set came much easier for the Greek competitor who eventually won 7-6 6-3, though not so much for the likes of fellow top talents in Johanna Konta, Elise Mertens and Marketa Vondrousova. Mertens had the easiest match of the trio but  was well and truly tested in the second by her wildcard opposition in Usue Maitane Arconada before putting out a stellar third set to take the win. Meanwhile, both Konta and Vondrouova had to fight a bit harder for their respective wins against formidable German talents in Andrea Petkovic and Angelique Kerber but will surely be brimming with intensity ready for the second round.

Joining Riske on the sidelines were Magda Linette and Yulia Putintseva after frankly disappointing outputs against their respective opposition. Linette had a rough start against Jill Teichmann, and despite competing well in the second set was unable to catch up to the Swiss competitor after she pulled out to a confident lead early, winning 6-2 7-6. Putintseva competed well but was not strong or consistent enough to keep up to Alison Van Uytvanck who seemingly came out with a point to prove, reigning supreme for the 6-4 6-4 victory. 

Where Americans were consistent on day one, Australian duo in Ajla Tomljanovic and Priscilla Hon both had shaky starts on the clay after not competing for much of the season, eventually going down in respective straight sets losses. In other games, Carla Suarez Navarro defeated Nina Stojanovic in a 7-5 2-6 6-1 marathon, while Julia Goerges was clinical against Jasmine Paolini, defeating the Italian in just 40 minutes, 6-2 6-1.

Tomorrow’s draw will surprisingly not see any of today’s American winners compete against each other, meaning there is a real chance of the United States continuing their domination after day one,

STRASBOURG OPEN ROUND OF 32 RESULTS:

[1] Sofia Kenin (USA) defeated Greet Minnen (BEL) 7-5 7-6
[2] Serena Williams (USA) defeated Sam Stosur (AUS) 4-6 6-1 6-2
[3] Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) defeated [Q] Lesia Tsurenko (UKR) 6-2 6-4
[4] Bianca Andreescu (CAN) defeated Rebecca Peterson (SWE) 6-2 6-3
Camila Giorgi (ITA) defeated [5] Elena Rybakina (KAZ) 6-4 6-3
[6] Madison Keys (USA) defeated Saisai Zheng (CHN) 3-6 7-5 6-1
[7] Dayana Yastremska (UKR) defeated Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) 7-5 3-6 6-2
Shuai Zhang (CHN) defeated [8] Donna Vekic (CRO) 6-2 6-4
[Q] Xiyu Wang (CHN) defeated [WC] Astra Sharma (AUS) 6-1 6-4
Amanda Anisimova (USA) defeated [WC] Chloe Paquet (FRA) 6-3 6-1
Qiang Wang (CHN) defeated [Q] Kateryna Kozlova (UKR) 7-5 5-7 7-5
Victoria Azarenka (BLR) defeated Fiona Ferro (FRA) 7-6 7-5
Coco Gauff (USA) defeated Elisabetta Cocciaretto (ITA) 7-5 2-6 6-4
Caroline Garcia (FRA) defeated [Q] Francesca Di Lorenzo (ITA) 6-2 6-2
Sloane Stephens (USA) defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) 5-7 6-2 6-2
Iga Swiatek (POL) defeated Polona Hercog (ROU) 7-5 6-2

RABAT GRAND PRIX ROUND OF 32 RESULTS:

[1] Johanna Konta (GBR) defeated Andrea Petkovic (GER) 3-6 6-1 7-5
[2] Elise Mertens (BEL) defeated [WC] Usue Maitane Arconada (ESP) 6-2 4-6 6-1
[3] Marketa Vondrousova (CZE) defeated Angelique Kerber (GER) 4-6 6-3 6-4
[Q] Mihaela Buzarnescu (ROU) defeated [4] Alison Riske (USA) 6-1 7-6
[5] Maria Sakkari (GRE) defeated Sara Sorribes Tormo (ESP) 7-5 6-3
[Q] Jil Teichmann (SUI) defeated [6] Magda Linette (POL) 6-2 7-6
Alison Van Uytvanck (BEL) defeated [7] Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) 6-4 6-4
[8] Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) defeated [Q] Ann Li (USA) 5-7 6-4 6-1
Tamara Zidansek (SLO) defeated Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS) 6-3 6-2
Venus Williams (USA) defeated Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) 4-6 6-3 7-6
Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP) defeated Nina Stojanovic (SRB) 7-5 2-6 6-1
Julia Goerges (GER) defeated Jasmine Paolini (ITA) 6-2 6-1
Taylor Townsend (USA) defeated Tatjana Maria (GER) 6-4 6-3
Anett Kontaveit (EST) defeated [Q] Priscilla Hon (AUS) 6-4 6-2
Coco Vandeweghe (USA) defeated Su Wei Hsieh (TAI) 6-3 6-2