Montreal - Former Grand Slam champions Petra Kvitova and Samantha Stosur were unfazed by opening-day weather delays, cruising into the second round of the WTA hard-court tournament in Montreal on Monday.
Two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova, seeded
12th, needed just 59 minutes to get past Poland's Magda Linette 6-1, 6-2.
The Czech, who won her first North American
hardcourt title in Montreal in 2012, didn't face a break point against the
young Pole, who pushed former world number one Venus Williams to three sets in
Stanford last week.
Kvitova, playing her first tournament since
Wimbledon, broke Linette twice in each set and finished her off with an ace.
Former US Open champion Stosur, seeded
13th, had to work a little harder to dispatch Britain's Heather Watson 7-5,
6-3.
After some first-set struggles, however, she broke Watson three times in the second to wrap up the win.
"To get through in straight sets, I'm
pretty happy," the Australian said. "Overall I thought I served
pretty well. There weren't a lot of points off my serve where she could dictate
off the first shot."
A string of rain delays stopped play for a
total of four hours.
Organizers eventually pushed the scheduled
last match of the night, between Canadian Francoise Abanda and Chinese
qualifier Zheng Saisai, to Tuesday.
The only other seed in action, 17th-seeded Elina Svitolina, advanced with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over American qualifier Jennifer Brady.
The top eight seeds - now led by
second-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany after the late injury withdrawal of
world number one Serena Williams - have first round byes.
Croatia's Mirjana Lucic-Baroni booked a second-round meeting with Wimbledon finalist Kerber with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Japan's Nao Hibino.
Britain's Naomi Broady beat Puerto Rico's Monica Puig 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 to line up a clash with third-seeded French Open champion Garbine Muguruza - who was installed at the top of the revised draw after Williams pulled out with inflammation in her shoulder.
Results on Monday at the WTA hard-court tournament in Montreal (x-denotes seeded player):
1st rd
Madison Brengle (USA) bt Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) 6-4, 1-6, 6-4
Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) bt Caroline Garcia (FRA) 2-6, 6-3, 6-3
Daria Gavrilova (AUS) bt Annika Beck (GER) 6-4, 6-3
Samantha Stosur (AUS) bt Heather Watson (GBR) 7-5, 6-3
Elina Svitolina (UKR x17) bt Jennifer Brady (USA) 6-2, 6-4
Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (CRO) bt Nao Hibino (JPN) 6-2, 6-0