New York: World number two Simona Halep avoided the rash upsets in US Open when New Zealand opponent Marina Erakovic retired with a knee injury on Tuesday. Halep was leading 6-2, 3-0 when her 99th-ranked rival called it quits.
Aussie Samantha Stosur, whose 2011 US Open final win over Serena Williams was the last time the US world number one lost at Flushing Meadows, beat Timea Babos of Hungary 6-3, 6-4.
Two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova, the fifth seed, needed just 59 minutes to beat German qualifier Laura Siegemund 6-1, 6-1.
Sixth seed Lucie Safarova joined the seeds casualty list when the Czech left-hander became the fourth top-10 player to lose in the first round.
She slipped to a 6-4, 6-1 defeat to Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko, the woman she beat in the semi-finals in New Haven, as she joins seventh seed Ana Ivanovic, eighth-ranked Karolina Pliskova and Carla Suarez Navarro, the 10th seed, in failing to get out of the first round.
“I talked with my coach about what to change. I changed the serve a little bit, made it a more active movement,” said the 26-year-old Tsurenko of the tweaks she made from last week’s clash with the Czech, who had also beaten her in New York in 2013.
“I received pretty bad because she was a lefty. This time I was playing at the back more.”
With world number three Maria Sharapova having pulled out of the tournament through injury, Safarova’s defeat also served to ease Serena Williams’s path to a calender Grand Slam.
The world number one American reached the second round on Monday when Vitalia Diatchenko retired with a foot injury after just 30 minutes.
“I had a good start. I was aggressive and played my best tennis today,” said Halep, who has yet to get beyond the fourth round in New York.
“I know I can play my best tennis here. I have no expectations. Serena is there. I just want to play my best tennis.”
