Flushing Meadows, NY (Sports Network) - Reigning champion Samantha Stosur and
third seed Maria Sharapova were easy first-round winners on a rain-interrupted
Day 1 at the 2012 U.S. Open.
The seventh-seeded Stosur won her eighth straight match in New York with a
brisk 51-minute 6-1, 6-1 pasting of Croat Petra Martic at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Stosur won the first 19 points of the match and fired 10 aces past a helpless
Martic. The Aussie lost only four points while serving in the lopsided affair.
Stosur stunned American great Serena Williams in last year's U.S. Open finale
to capture her lone career Grand Slam title. The Aussie star was also a French
Open runner-up in 2010.
"As soon as I got here, it was just a good feeling and excitement to be back
to a city that obviously brought me so much last year," Stosur said.
The 28-year-old Stosur, who has been somewhat disappointing this year, was a
first-round loser at the Australian Open in January and Olympic Games last
month and lost in the second round at Wimbledon in June.
Sharapova, meanwhile, breezed past Hungarian Melinda Czink 6-2, 6-2. The 2006
U.S. Open champ, Sharapova completed the career Grand Slam earlier this year
by winning at Roland Garros.
Ninth-seeded former French Open champ Li Na of China advanced following a
more-than-two-hour rain delay with a 6-2, 6-3 handling of Britain's Heather
Watson, while 11th-seeded former Wimbledon runner-up Marion Bartoli of France
won her 18th straight first-round Grand Slam match by topping American Jamie
Hampton 6-3, 7-6 (7-5). Li was a hardcourt titlist in Cincinnati two weeks
ago.
In other action involving seeds, No. 15 Czech Lucie Safarova handled American
Melanie Oudin 6-4, 6-0, No. 19 Russian Nadia Petrova beat Aussie Jarmila
Gajdosova 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) and No. 31 American Varvara Lepchenko outlasted
Frenchwoman Mathilde Johansson 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.
Upsets came when Romanian Sorana Cirstea overcame 16th-seeded German Sabine
Lisicki 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, Czech Kristyna Pliskova dismissed 18th-seeded German
Julia Goerges 7-6 (7-4), 6-1, and Czech Lucie Hradecka doused 27th-seeded
Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3, 6-3.
Also advancing were Romanian Simona Halep, Aussie Casey Dellacqua, Georgian
Anna Tatishvili, Luxembourg's Mandy Minella, Swiss Romina Oprandi, Spaniard
Lourdes Dominguez Lino, and Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak.
The Sports Network