Keys beats Vandeweghe again in Cincinnati
Madison Keys beat fellow American CoCo Vandeweghe for the second time in eight days with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory on Monday to reach the second round of the Cincinnati Open.
Keys beat Vandeweghe in straight sets in the Stanford Classic final and while pushed a little harder on Monday, the 16th seed still had enough to get by her big-serving compatriot in just under two hours.
"CoCo is always going to be a tough person to have to try to get returns in," Keys said during her on-court interview.
"She obviously raised her level in the second set, so then I had to as well in the third.
"From then it was just about who could get more balls in at the end."
Keys, who has never advanced beyond the second round in Cincinnati, will next face unseeded Russian Daria Kasatkina.
In earlier action, Australian Daria Gavrilova shook off an uncertain second set to defeat France's Kristina Mladenovic 6-0, 7-6(6).
After cruising through a perfect first set, the 23-year-old Gavrilova needed to save a set point in the second to hand the 13th-seeded Mladenovic her third straight loss.
"She has a history of great comebacks. She has done it at the French Open almost every match," said Gavrilova.
"She stepped up her game and was playing a bit looser and was not making as many unforced errors because the first set was not a great set from her."
Gavrilova moves on to face Italian Camila Giorgi in the round of 32 on Tuesday.
Big-serving Czech Petra Kvitova battled back to defeat Anett Kontaveit 1-6, 7-6(2), 6-3 in Monday's opening match.
Kvitova, the tournament's 14th seed and a two-time Wimbledon champion, will face either wildcard American Sloane Stephens or Czech Lucie Safarova, who play on Tuesday.
Querrey leads old guard into second round at Cincinnati
American 15th seed Sam Querrey cruised into the second round of the Cincinnati Open with a routine 6-3, 6-0 win over compatriot Stefan Kozlov on Monday on a day when the old guard dominated the younger players.
Wimbledon semi-finalist Querrey, 29, was barely tested by his 19-year-old wildcard opponent in the 51-minute match during which he dropped only four points on serve and did not even face one break point.
"Went out there and just kind of put my head down and went to work, and played a really solid match from start to finish. It felt good," said Querrey, who since Wimbledon has won a tournament in Mexico and reached the Montreal third round.
Querrey will next face the winner of Tuesday's clash between Dutchman Robin Haase and France's Adrian Mannarino.
Ivo Karlovic, who at 38 is one of the oldest players on the ATP Tour, enjoyed a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 win over Czech 24-year-old Jiri Vesely while Italy's Fabio Fognini, 30, held off Russian youngster Daniil Medvedev 7-6(5), 6-4.
In keeping with the trend of veterans beating youngsters, Spain's Feliciano Lopez, 35, beat 21-year-old South Korean Chung Hyeon 7-6(5), 6-1.
Unseeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet enjoyed a 6-4, 6-4 win over John Patrick Smith of Australia to set up a second-round clash with Rafa Nadal, who is already assured of returning to world number one next week for the first time since 2014.
Spain's Fernando Verdasco, 33, however, was not as fortunate as he dropped his first round encounter with slightly younger German Mischa Zverev 6-4, 6-4.
