MINSK, 14 August (BelTA) – Belarus' world number 40 Victoria Azarenka moved into the second round of the 2019 edition of the Western & Southern Open, after No.12 seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland retired due to a left foot injury while trailing 6-4, 1-0, BelTA has learned.
The Belarusian will next face either Croatia's world number 26 Donna Vekic or Czech's world number 38 Katerina Siniakova.
Belarus' world number nine Aryna Sabalenka reached the second round with a straight-set win over Croatia's world number 21 Petra Martic, 6-1, 6-4. Belarus' world number 47 Aliaksandra Sasnovich defeated Australia's world number 99 Astra Sharma 6-1, 4-6, 6-1. The Belarusian will next face world number one Naomi Osaka of Japan.
In the women's doubles opener, Belarus' Lidziya Marozava and Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik lost to the Australian-U.S. tandem of Monique Adamczak and Kaitlyn Christian 2-6, 5-7.
The competitions in Cincinnati will run through 18 August.