Washington Open: Azarenka edges past qualifier Baptiste to reach second round

Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, the No 6 seed, beat American qualifier Hailey Baptiste 7-6 (6), 7-6 (3) to advance to the second round of the Washington Open at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center.

Azarenka, ranked No 20, will face Chinese Yafan Wang next.

Washington WTA 500, other first-round results (William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center, hard, USD 922.573, most recent results first):

• Paula Badosa vs. Sofia Kenin
• Clervie Ngounoue vs. Peyton Stearns: tuesday
• Taylor Townsend beat Anastasia Potapova (9): 6-2, 6-2
• Marie Bouzkova beat McCartney Kessler (Q): 6-4, 4-6, 6-2
• Kamilla Rakhimova (Q) beat Katie Volynets: 6-4, 6-3
• Amanda Anisimova (Q) beat Sloane Stephens: 6-3, 7-5
• Emma Raducanu (WC) beat Elise Mertens (8): 6-2, 3-6, 6-4
• Robin Montgomery (WC) beat Shelby Rogers: 7-5, 6-3
• Yafan Wang beat Karolina Pliskova: 5-7, 6-3, 6-0
• Caroline Dolehide beat Lesia Tsurenko: 6-1, 3-6, 6-4
• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (7) beat Ashlyn Krueger: 6-3, 4-6, 6-4