Bertens eases past Riske 6-3, 6-3 in Aussie opener

Melbourne, Jan 14 (IANS) Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands grabbed a straight sets win over Alison Riske of the United States in round one of the Australian Open here on Monday.

The no. 9 seed beat her American opponent 6-3, 6-3 after 66 minutes of play.

Bertens got off to a quick start with a 3-1 lead after she decimated a backhand service return down the line for a clean winner on breakpoint, which she consolidated by closing out the 4-1 game with consecutive aces, reports Efe news.

Riske showed off some powerful serves in the opening set and holding for 4-2, saving a breakpoint in the process.

"It was a tough one," Bertens told the media after the match.

"I think the conditions were a little bit tough, a little bit kind of a swirly wind out there. But I was serving really good, and I'm happy with the way I played today," she added.

Bertens blasted out 20 winners in the match against the 56th-ranked Riske, half of those being aces.

Both the players had a solid winning percentage off their first serves, however, Bertens won two-thirds of points on her second serve, while Riske only won 36 percent of points via hers.

"It's quite fast out there, but my serve was really working well today, and also the strokes were quite aggressive, so it was really working," Bertens said.

Bertens will now play against former Top 15 player Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia, who downed 2016 Olympic champion Monica Puig of Puerto Rico, 6-4, 6-3, earlier on Monday.