Wozniacki, Azarenka, Serena log N.Y. wins

NEW YORK, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- Caroline Wozniacki, Victoria Azarenka and Serena Williams breezed into the second round of the U.S. Open Tuesday with easy opening-round victories.

Wozniacki, the top-ranked player in the world, bounced Spaniard Nuria Llagostera Vives 6-3, 6-1 at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Azarenka rolled to a 6-1, 6-3 win over Johanna Larsson. The Belarusian took 70 minutes to dismantle her Swedish opponent.

Wozniacki won six titles on the WTA circuit this season but failed to get past the fourth round at the last two Grand Slam events. She has never won a major.

Azarenka reached her first career Grand Slam semifinal at Wimbledon last month.

"There are always things that could have been done better, but I think I had a pretty solid start," she said. "I kept control of the match, so it's important, you know, to have that control in the opening rounds."

Williams had little trouble with Serbian Bojana Jovanovski, posting a 6-1, 6-1 victory in less than an hour on the final match of the night.

Williams is seeking her fourth U.S. Open title after missing last year's event while recovering from foot surgery.

In other matches, German Sabine Lisicki, seeded 22nd, ousted Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko 6-3, 6-3; 26th-seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta defeated Aravane Rezai of France 6-1, 6-4; No. 20 seed Belgian Yanina Wickmayer was a 6-1, 7-5 winner over Romanian Sorana Cirstea; and No. 31 seed Estonian Kaia Kanepi eliminated Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-4, 6-3.

Also reaching the second round were Argentine Gisela Dulko and American Coco Vandeweghe.

Lisicki will go against unseeded American Venus Williams next.

A big payday awaits the women's singles champion -- $1.8 million.