Washington, DC (SportsNetwork.com) - Former top-five star Svetlana Kuznetsova was an easy first-round winner Monday at the Citi Open, a U.S. Open Series tennis event.
The sixth-seeded Russian and two-time Grand Slam champion routed Slovenian Polona Hercog 6-3, 6-2 on the hardcourts at FitzGerald Tennis Center.
Third-seeded Alize Cornet of France was upset by American wild card Shelby Rogers 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, and seventh-seeded American Madison Keys was also an early casualty on Monday as she suffered a 7-5, 6-3 defeat at the hands of Japan's Kurumi Nara.
In the last match of the evening, eighth-seeded Romanian Sorana Cirstea outlasted Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.
Meanwhile, American Vania King drubbed Canadian wild card Francoise Abanda 6-2, 6-0.
American qualifier Taylor Townsend bounced back from a first-set loss to nab a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory over German Julia Goerges, and Kazakhstan's Zarina Diyas cruised to a 6-4, 6-0 win over American qualifier Tornado Alicia Black.
Japanese qualifier Hiroko Kuwata whipped American Alison Riske 6-0, 7-5.
Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova beat German Andrea Petkovic in last year's finale to capture her second straight title in the nation's capital.
The top seed this week is Czech Lucie Safarova.
The 2014 D.C. champion will claim $43,000.
