Auckland, New Zealand (SportsNetwork.com) - Rising American Jamie Hampton and her fellow countrywoman Venus Williams were among Monday's first-round winners at the season-opening ASB Classic tennis event.
The fifth-seeded 22-year-old Hampton fought back to beat Austrian wild card Tamira Paszek 1-6, 6-0, 6-3, while the former world No. 1 Williams got past Czech wild card Andrea Hlavackova 6-3, 7-6 (7-1) on the hardcourts at ASB Tennis Centre.
Williams' second-round opponent will be Austrian Yvonne Meusburger, who upset seventh-seeded German Mona Barthel 6-4, 6-3 at this Australian Open tune-up.
Additional wins came for Czech qualifier Karolina Pliskova, Japanese Kurumi Nara, Swede Johanna Larsson, and Spaniard Garbine Muguruza, who drove out American Christina McHale 6-4, 6-3.
Opening-round action will come Tuesday for top seeds Roberta Vinci and former world No. 1 star Ana Ivanovic, who will face American Alison Riske.
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