FOUR of eight Americans won through to the next round after a mammoth Day 2 of proceedings in the 2020 ASB Classic. The top five seeds in the tournament took the court on the day, with all five reigning supreme to head into the next round of the competition.

Top and third seed Americans Serena Williams and Amanda Anisimova pulled out similar performances against their respective opponents, knocking out Italian Camila Giorgi and Ukrainian Kateryna Kozlova. Williams whipped out eight aces against Giorgi, seeing the Italian go down in straight sets 6-3 6-2, while Anisimova impressed with her composure under pressure, defeating Kozlova 6-3 6-4.

Caroline Wozniacki impressed in her first match for 2020, dominating against 22-year-old top ranked New Zealander, Paige Mary Hourigan and dropping only one game in her straight sets victory. Wozniacki currently ranks just inside the worldwide top 40 but performed close to her best form with a 6-1 6-0 victory.

German fourth seed, Julia Goerges had it easy in the first set but was tested in the second by Belgian, Greet Minnen, with Minnen taking Goerges to a tiebreaker before going down 1-6 6-7. Second seed Petra Martic was taken to three sets by young American, Usue Maitane Arconada, with Arconada winning the first set 7-5 before Martic lifted her game. The longest match of the day at over two-and-a-half hours, Martic proved her experience in the second and third sets, coming out victor, 7-5 4-6 4-6.

In other games, four Americans faced off against teammates, with both Lauren Davis defeating Varvara Lepchenko (7-6 6-2) and Christina Mchale defeating Ann Li (7-5 6-2) in straight sets. Meanwhile, Catherine McNally went down in straight sets to German, Laura Siegemund and Ysaline Bonaventure put Alize Cornet through her paces, winning the first set before going down 4-6 7-5 6-3.