Sharapova says Barty not an easy match-up in Cincinnati

TOP seed Ashleigh Barty will face Maria Sharapova in the second round of the Cincinnati Open after the Russian won her tournament opener.

Former champion Sharapova defeated wildcard Alison Riske 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) to advance to a showdown with Barty — who lost her world No.1 ranking to Naomi Osaka after her early exit in Toronto last week.

Barty was one of the top eight seeds in Cincinnati to have a bye into the round of 32 but does have the edge over the Russian having defeated her in the fourth round of the Australian Open in January.

“It’s really not an easy match-up for me. I think she does a lot of things well. She’s a tricky opponent,” Sharapova said of Barty.

Yesterday’s win was her first in Ohio in five years and a single break at 4-3 helped her wrap up the first set inside 46 minutes.

Australian qualifier Astra Sharma fell to Aliaksandra Sasnovich in their opening round encounter 6-1, 4-6, 6-1.

Meanwhile, former world No.1 Venus Williams moved through the first round by defeating compatriot Lauren Davis in straight sets.

Wildcard Williams won 7-5, 6-2 on centre court as she maintained her streak of never having lost a set to Davis in their four meetings.

It was not so smooth for another former world No.1 as Caroline Wozniacki fell at the first hurdle, going down 6-4, 6-4 to Dayana Yastremska.

Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva defeated Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-2, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3 while Johanna Konta was bundled out by Swedish qualifier Rebecca Peterson.

Other first-round winners were veteran Svetlana Kuznetsova, Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka, Maria Sakkari, Elise Mertens and Veronika Kudermetova.