Kerber solid again in Tokyo first round

TOKYO, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- Qualifier Angelique Kerber dropped just one game Sunday in a first-round victory at the Toray Pan Pacific Open tennis tournament in Tokyo.

Kerber extended a recent strong run with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Bojana Jovanovski. Kerber has won 11 of her last 13 matches and advanced to semifinals as Dallas, where she was also a qualifier, and the U.S. Open in her two most recent tournaments.

She dispatched Jovanovski in 51 minutes Sunday, winning two-thirds of the points in the match, including 72 percent when receiving serve. She broke Jovanovski in all six of her service games.

Ninth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska was nearly as impressive, taking out Misaki Doi 6-1, 6-1. Radwanska also had six service breaks and lost just 11 points in seven service games.

No. 11-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova defeated Arantxa Rus 6-4, 6-3 and 16th-seeded Shahar Peer beat Kristyna Pliskova 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 but Kaia Kanepi ousted 15th-seeded Flavia Pennetta 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in Sunday's other matches involving seeded players.

Other first-round winners Sunday were Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, Irina-Camelia Begu, Ayumi Morita, Laura Robson, Greta Arn and Tamarine Tanasugarn.