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Draw opens up for Wozniacki as Bondarenko loses

Caroline Wozniacki won the first six games against Patty Schnyder © Getty Images

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Caroline Wozniacki is already the firm favourite to win the MPS Group Championships at Ponte Vedra Beach after she beat Patty Schnyder on the same day No. 2 seed Alona Bondarenko crashed out of the tournament.

Wozniacki has been knocking on the door of the world No. 1 ranking since March, and she showed her class again on Tuesday, defeating Schnyder 6-0 6-4 in Florida. Relying completely on her outstanding baseline game, Wozniacki broke her Swiss counterpart on five occasions to advance to the second round.

Meanwhile, the Danish youngster's closest rival, No. 2 seed Bondarenko, was dumped out at the first hurdle, losing 6-3 4-6 6-0 to Olga Govortseva of Belarus. Bondarenko created three breaks of service against her lesser-known opponent, but she conceded double that number on her own serve as the draw opened up for Wozniacki.

Tellingly, both players had the same number of chances to break in the contest, but it was Govortsova who proved the more durable, saving seven break points.

Elsewhere, wildcard Ayumi Morita, Shuai Peng, Varvara Lepchenko, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Angelique Kerber and Julia Goerges all progressed.

In the Andalucia Open, No. 1 seed Victoria Azarenka did not have as comfortable a first round clash as she would have liked, despite beating Yvonne Meusburger 6-3 6-0 in Marbella.

Azarenka dominated all the statistics against her Austrian opponent, breaking six times to one and keeping a higher first serve percentage. However, Meusburger created eight break points, raising cause for concern in the Azarenka camp as she goes deeper into the competition.

Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez was rarely troubled on her way to the second round, beating Swiss opponent Stefanie Voegele 6-4 6-3. Martinez Sanchez, who is the tournament's fifth seed, looked weak behind her own serve but still had more than enough to see off Voegele.

Eighth seed Carla Suarez Navarro also advanced in straight sets, beating Roberta Vinci 6-4 6-0 in less than hour. Vinci was broken on six occasions in 55 minutes as Suarez Navarro took control, claiming 58 of the 85 points on offer in the match.

Elsewhere, Alberta Brianti, Sara Errani, Simona Halep, Sorana Cirstea and Anabel Medina Garrigues all picked up first round victories.

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