Singapore Open: Mertens crushes Townsend to reach second round

Belgian Elise Mertens, the second seed, beat American Taylor Townsend 6-1, 6-0 to advance to the second round of the Singapore Open at the Kallang Tennis Hub.

Mertens, ranked No 32, will face the winner of the match between Ukrainian Yuliia Starodubtseva and German Tatjana Maria next.

Singapore WTA 250, other first-round results (Kallang Tennis Hub, USD 275.094, most recent results first):

• Yuliia Starodubtseva vs. Tatjana Maria: tuesday
• Jil Teichmann (Q) beat Harriet Dart: 6-3, 6-1
• Xinyu Wang (4) beat Rebecca Marino: 6-4, 5-7, 7-5
• Olivia Gadecki beat Moyuka Uchijima (8): 6-1, 6-7 (1), 6-2
• Maria Timofeeva (LL) beat Xiyu Wang: 6-3, 7-6 (3)
• Kimberly Birrell (WC) beat Polina Kudermetova (5): 6-3, 6-2
• Hailey Baptiste beat Renata Zarazua: 2-6, 6-0, 6-3
• Simona Waltert (Q) beat Ajla Tomljanovic: 6-2, 6-3
• Dominika Salkova (Q) beat Erika Andreeva: 7-6 (5), 6-2
• Anna Kalinskaya (1) beat Caroline Dolehide: 6-4, 4-6, 6-2
• Mananchaya Sawangkaew (Q) beat Sijia Wei (Q): 6-4, 7-6 (2)
• Cristina Bucsa beat Emma Raducanu (7): 5-7, 7-5, 7-5
• Maya Joint (Q) beat Alycia Parks: 4-6, 6-1, 7-5
• Ann Li beat Daria Saville: 6-3, 6-1
• Camila Osorio (6) beat Bernarda Pera: 6-1, 6-7, 6-3