NEW HAVEN, Connecticut — Top seed Agnieszka Radwanska overcame a slow start and breezed past Jelena Ostapenko 7-5, 6-1 Tuesday night in the second round of the Connecticut Open.
Ostapenko had upset four-time New Haven champion Caroline Wozniacki in the first round and had a set point, leading the fourth-ranked player in the world 5-4. But Radwanska rallied to hold serve, then broke the 19-year-old from Latvia in the 11th game to take control of the match.
“I think I was just more patient and well, just two points better,” said Radwanska, of Poland.
Before that match, the day belonged to the underdogs.
Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium became the fourth lucky loser this week to win a first-round match, beating Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 6-1, 4-6, 7-5.
Another lucky loser, Johanna Larsson of Sweden, beat seventh-seeded Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland 7-5, 6-2.
The 28-year-old got into the main draw when Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova withdrew with a shoulder injury.
Olympic doubles champions Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina of Russia became the first players to advance to the third round of the singles competition.
Vesnina was leading Anett Kontaveit 6-4, 1-0 when the 20-year-old Estonian withdrew with a left thigh injury.
Makarova beat qualifier Anatasija Sevastova of Latvia 6-3, 6-2.
Vesnina will play Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, who won the last match of the day, 6-3, 6-1 over Evgenya Rodina of Russia.
Querrey thru
In Los Angeles, Sam Querrey got off to a successful start at the ATP Winston-Salem tournament by reaching the third round with a 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 7-5 win over Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
Querrey next plays Viktor Troicki of Serbia, who defeated Kyle Edmund of Great Britain 6-3, 7-5. Second-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut defeated Great Britain’s Aljaz Bedene 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Bautista Agut next faces No. 14 seed Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, who eliminated American Donald Young 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
Third-seeded Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay had an easier time in getting past Malek Jaziri of Tunisia 7-5, 6-1. Cuevas’ next opponent will be 16th-seeded Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain, who eliminated Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4, 7-5.
France’s Gilles Simon was upset in his opening match for the second year in a row. He lost to Diego Schwartzman of Argentina 7-6 (2), 6-1.
Serena, Djokovic top seeds for US Open
Serena Williams is the No. 1 seeded woman for the US Open after barely holding on to the top spot in the rankings, and Novak Djokovic is No. 1 among the men.
Neither Serena nor Djokovic has played a match since early exits at the Rio Olympics. Serena later said she was dealing with a right shoulder problem, while Djokovic said his left wrist was sore.
This is the fifth time Williams is the top seed at Flushing Meadows; she has won the tournament six times. Last year, she was stunned in the semifinals by Roberta Vinci, stopping the American’s bid for a calendar-year Grand Slam.
Angelique Kerber is seeded No. 2, Garbine Muguruza is No. 3 and Agnieszka Radwanska is No. 4.
Djokovic, the defending champion, is followed by No. 2 Andy Murray, No. 3 Stan Wawrinka and No. 4 Rafael Nadal.
The draw for the year’s last major tennis tournament is Friday. Play begins Monday.
