Caroline Wozniacki and Venus Williams cruised through to the second round of the WTA Auckland Classic Tuesday to restore a semblance of order as other seeds crashed around them.
Wozniacki, the tournament top seed, expended minimal energy downing Israeli qualifier Julia Glushko 6-3,6-2 while Williams dropped only one game despatching Slovakia’s Jana Cepelova 6-1, 6-0.
But Svetlana Kuznetsova, the fifth seed, became the third ranked player to make an early exit joining first day losers Sara Errani of Italy and Germany’s Mona Barthel the second and eighth seeds.
Wozniacki made few unforced errors as she cruised past Glushko in 69 minutes with a 75 percent first serve success rate to set up a second round meeting with American wildcard Taylor Townsend.
Williams was even more impressive blasting 10 aces to dispose of Cepelova in a one-way contest.
The veteran had too much power and pace and declared herself satisfied even though it was not much of a contest.
“Absolutely, because usually when you win a match more easily it means you’re doing everything right,” she said.
Former world number two Kuznetsova fell to Czech qualifier Lucie Hradecka in a three-set marathon 3-6 7-6 (8/6) 6-4.
Polish qualifier Urzula Radwanska also produced an upset with a 6-4 7-5 win over 2010 French Open winner Francesca Schiavone from Italy.
Radwanksa was 5-0 up in the first set before Schiavone gained a feel for the pace of the game and although she became more formidable in the second set Radwanksa took the match on her second match point.