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New Haven - Agnieszka Radwanska breezed into the second round of the Connecticut Open with a 6-0, 6-2 victory over American CoCo Vandeweghe on Monday at Connecticut Tennis Centre.
The Krakow, Poland native needed only 65 minutes to set up a second-round meeting with France's Aliza Cornet, who advanced with a three-set win against Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan.
"I just started very well," said Radwanska, who wore a Lotto Women's Lux Diamond Dress that resembled a disco ball and sparkled under the Stadium Court lights at night. "Everything was really working for me and I was really focusing on each ball."
Among the other top players to advance were 20-year-old American Madison Keys and sixth-ranked Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic. Eighth-ranked Karolina Pliskova, also from the Czech Republic, survived a scare from Slovakia's Polona Hercog before advancing with a 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 victory.
Vandeweghe, who is winless in three career matches in the tournament, won the first two games of the second set. Radwanska, who debuted her fancy dress at the French Open, then closed with a flourish.
"I knew she was going to come back sooner or later, the first set was too fast," said Radwanska, who made it to the semi-finals at Wimbledon in June. "She had nothing to lose in that second set and started off real aggressive. But then I thought I stepped in again."
Keys, who is the top ranked American player behind Serena Williams at 19th, started off sloppy and dropped her first four games against Ukraine's Elina Svitolina.
After fighting back to win the set 7-6 (7-4), Keys went in front 4-2 in the second set before Svitolina retired with a lower back injury.
"I'm really happy with how I turned things around today," said Keys, who received a pep talk from coach Lindsay Davenport after the rough start. "I kind of just started (hitting) balls on the court, it wasn't rocket science. I stopped missing so many."
Next up for Keys is fourth-ranked Petra Kvitova, who is the top remaining seed at No. 2 after American Simona Halep withdrew Sunday due to injury.
Keys already beat Kvitova once this season, prevailing in straight sets in the round of 32 at the Australian Open.
"Obviously I played really well when I played her in Australia and she was playing well," Keys said.
"Things change and I'm really just going to try and go out and have a really good match."
Safarova had a little easier time beating Russian Daria Gavrilova 6-3, 6-4 in the final afternoon match.
"I lost to her in Toronto a couple weeks ago, so I was very happy to get a win today," Safarova said. "We had some good rallies and I was happy with how I played aggressive, not let her play her game really."
Also Monday, Canadian Eugenie Bouchard lost to Italy's Roberta Vinci 6-1, 6-0.
"I didn't expect an easy win," said Vinci, who had to qualify for the tournament. "Eugenie's a great player."
France's Kristina Mladenovic knocked off eighth-seeded Sara Errani of Italy, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. Slovakia's Magdalena Rybarikova, Ukraine's Olga Savchuk and France's Caroline Garcia also advanced to the second round.
Results on Monday from the Connecticut Open WTA event (x denotes seed):
1st rd
Karolina Pliskova (CZE x5) bt Polona Hercog (SLO) 2-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-2
Olga Savchuk (UKR) bt Olga Govortsova (BLR) 4-6, 6-3, 4-0 retired
Lucie Safarova (CZE x4) bt Daria Gavrilova (RUS) 6-3, 6-4
Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) bt Sara Errani (ITA x8) 6-2, 4-6, 6-4
Caroline Garcia (FRA) bt Timea Bacsinszky (SUI x6) 6-3, 6-1
Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK) bt Flavia Pennetta (ITA) 6-7 (2/7), 6-3, 6-1
Roberta Vinci (ITA) bt Eugenie Bouchard (CAN) 6-1, 6-0
Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) bt Coco Vandeweghe (USA) 6-0, 6-2
Alize Cornet (FRA) bt Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) 2-6, 6-0, 6-2
Madison Keys (USA) bt Elina Svitolina (UKR) 7-6 (7/4), 4-2 retired
