Ferrer, Muguruza break Australian hearts

BRISBANE - David Ferrer sent local favorite Bernard Tomic packing with an easy 6-3, 7-5 win in the opening round of the Brisbane International Monday. The eighth-seeded Spaniard capitalized on Tomic’s poor serve, breaking the flat-looking Australian three times to clinch the first set at the Pat Rafter Arena. They traded service holds through the second set until the final game when Tomic’s eighth double fault sealed Ferrer’s comprehensive win. The Spaniard now faces another Australian, Jordan Thompson. Nicolas Mahut staged a brilliant comeback against Stephane Robert to win the all-French contest 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. He will meet the winner of the clash between seventh seed Grigor Dimitrov, who beat Steve Johnson 6-2, 6-3. Britain’s Kyle Edmund saw off American qualifier Ernesto Escobedo in two tiebreak sets 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (8-6). In the women’s event, fourth seed Garbine Muguruza staved off Samantha Stosur’s spirited comeback, prevailing 7-5, 6-7(2), 7-5 in a three-hour battle that ended in disappointment for the partisan crowd. Muguruza now plays Daria Kasatkina. Earlier, two time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova celebrated her 600th win on the WTA Tour when she downed American Louisa Chirico 6-2, 6-4. Sixth seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine was an impressive 6-3, 6-3 winner over Puerto Rica’s Rio Olympic gold medalist Monica Puig, while China’s Zhang Shuai downed German Laura Siegemund 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3. Eighth seeded Italian Roberta Vinci came back from 2-5 down in the third set to beat Ukraine’s Kateryna Bondarenko 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-5), and US qualifier Asia Muhammad defeated Croatian Donna Vekic 7-6 (7-5), 6-1. Radwanska survives In Beijing, top seed and defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland scraped a hard-fought 6-2, 6-7(4), 7-5 victory against lower-ranked Ying-Ying Duan at the WTA Shenzhen Open Monday to advance to the second round. Second seed Simona Halep of Romania triumphed in a three-set thriller 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 over Jelena Jankovic of Serbia. Halep won a place in the second round against Katerina Siniakova, who defeated hometown favourite Shuai Peng 6-3, 7-5. Third seed Johanna Konta of Britain made a strong start to the tournament with a dominant 6-2, 6-0 performance over Caga Buyukakcay.