Serena, Djokovic hurdle 1st round Cincinnati foes

Numerous top level ATP and WTA tennis players have descended upon Cincinnati, OH this week for two reasons: one, because it’s mandatory to do so and, two, in order to take advantage of the final opportunity to work out the kinks in their hard court games before the year’s final Slam, the U.S. Open.

“I think it could be a lot better”, she said.

Garcia will meet 14th seed Elina Svitolina in the next round after the Ukrainian edged out the slumping Eugenie Bouchard 7-6 (6) 7-5 as the Canadian’s woeful season continued. “I’m going to talk to my agent about it tonight and just really minimize what I do, because I just want to play tennis”.

Welcome to the world of No. 1-ranked Serena Williams, where you win 7-5, 6-3 and people wonder why it was so close.

“When I play in front of a great crowd, I really want to play well”, said Serena.

“I don’t necessarily want to hear about, ‘Oh, this history and that history, ‘ because I just want to be able to do the best that I can”. I just enjoy going out there every time I’m out there.

Rain delayed the start of play Wednesday for 35 minutes. She broke her to win that set, then broke her again for a 5-3 lead in the second.

Serena capitalized on her only break point late in the first set to take the opener.

Despite being the defending champion at the tournament, it seems Serena Williams does not have her own locker at the Cincinnati Open.

American Varvara Lepchenko beat lucky loser Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 7-5, 6-4 while her compatriot, Madison Keys, was beaten in straight sets by former world number one Jelena Jankovic. Maria Sharapova also dropped out because of a lingering injury to her right leg.

On the men’s side, fourth-seeded Stan Wawrinka rallied for a 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3 win over Borna Coric. Wawrinka produced 40 winners and 52 unforced errors as he moved into the third round against another Croatian, Ivo Karlovic.

French 12th seed Richard Gasquet completed this week’s demolition of the Australian young guns as he backed up a win over Nick Kyrgios with victory over Kokkinakis.

The only Bulgarian representative left in the tournament is Grigor Dimitrov, who will face the British Andy Murray in the third round. Knapp beat Russian Daria Gavrilova 6-4 6-1.