THE American success at the Open BLS De Limoges continued on Day 2 of the tournament, with fourth seed Jennifer Brady and eighth seed Bernarda Pera advancing through to the second round without too much fuss. The duo from the United States were among five players that moved past the opening round, not dropping a set in the process in some one-sided matches.

Brady knocked off experienced Estonian Kaia Kanepi 6-2 6-3 in contrasting service performances. Brady served up seven aces and won 68.2 per cent of her second serves, while Kanepi did not produce an ace, and instead doubled faulted five times, with a second serve percentage of 30. In the 17 games played, Brady broke three times from five opportunities, twice in the first set and once in the second set, whilst saving all three break points against. Her win saw her move through to face Switzerland’s Jil Teichmann in the next round.

For Pera, it was an identical story, with the eighth seed needing just 70 minutes to book a spot in the Round of 16, winning 6-2 6-3 in a game where serving was far from a highlight. Pera herself served five double faults compared to just three aces, but it was opponent, Frenchwoman Chloe Pacquet who could not find her rhythm, producing eight double faults and two aces, winning just 53.1 per cent of points off her first serve, and a terrible 17.4 per cent off her second serve. The two results meant the three Americans in the draw are through to the second round, and should they advance further, will not need to face each other until the semi-finals.

The biggest domination of the day belonged to Belarussian, Aliaksandra Sasnovich, with the former top 30 player blowing Hungarian, Isabella Shinikova off the court 6-2 6-1 in just 53 minutes. In a complete domination, Sasnovich broke five times from 10 opportunities, while winning her first and second serve points 81.8 and 83.3 per cent of the time respectively. Sasnovich moves through to face sixth seed Russian, Anna Blinkova who knocked off countrywoman, Natalia Vikhlyantseva 6-3 7-5. In the other singles result on Day 2, unseeded Spaniard, Sara Sorribes Tormo upset third seed Belgium, Alison Van Uytvanck 6-4 6-4. Sorribes Tormo’s win sets up a second round date with Romanian, Sonia Cirstea.

The remaining four round one singles matches are scheduled for Day 3 of the tournament, with Dutchwoman Arantxa Rus taking on Romanian Ana Bogdan in the opening game. Number one seed and title holder, Ekaterina Alexandrova is next up in the Round of 32 with a head-to-head clash against Monica Niculescu, while the all-French battle between second seed Caroline Garcia and Pauline Parmentier is later in the day. A couple of Round 2 matches also take place to give the crowd plenty to cheer for with home Frenchwoman Alize Cornet looking to make it through to the final eight, followed by Jessika Ponchet taking on American qualifier Nicole Gibbs in the last game of the day.