World No 1 Ashleigh Barty, coming off wins at Wimbledon and Cincinnati, began her chase for back-to-back Slam titles by defeating Russian Vera Zvonareva 6-1, 7-6 (9/7) at the US Open on Tuesday.

“When my back was against the wall late in that buster, I came up with some really good stuff,” Barty said.

The 25-year-old Australian next faces Denmark’s Clara Tauson as she goes for her sixth title of the year.

Canadian sixth seed Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 US Open winner who skipped last year’s event, was out through the wringer on her return to the court she won her biggest trophy on. But she outlasted Swiss Viktorija Golubic 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 after two hours and 48 minutes.

Olympic champion and 11th seed Belinda Bencic claimed an opening-round win over Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands, 6-4, 6-4 while

Iga Swiatek, seeded seventh, defeating American qualifier Jamie Loeb, 6-3, 6-4 in an hour and 14 minutes.

British teen Emma Raducanu, who had a breakthrough Wimbledon campaign, won her first main dra match after coming through qualifying to make her US Open debut. She beat lucky loser Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland, 6-2, 6-3 in an hour and 18 minutes.

Results

Ashleigh Barty (AUS x1) bt Vera Zvonareva (RUS) 6-1, 7-6 (9/7)

Clara Tauson (DEN) bt Clara Burel (FRA) 7-5, 6-0

Shelby Rogers (USA) bt Madison Brengle (USA) 6-4, 6-0

Sorana Cirstea (ROM) bt Veronika Kudermetova (RUS x29) 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 6-0

Sara Sorribes (ESP) bt Karolína Muchová (CZE x22) 6-2, 7-6 (7/3)

Hsieh Su-wei (TPE) bt Claire Liu (USA) 6-1, 6-4

Zhang Shuai (CHN) bt Hailey Baptiste (USA) 6-3, 6-4

Emma Raducanu (GBR) bt Stefanie Vögele (SUI) 6-2, 6-3

Belinda Bencic (SUI x11) bt Arantxa Rus (NED) 6-4, 6-4

Martina Trevisan (ITA) bt Coco Vandeweghe (USA) 6-1, 7-5

Misaki Doi (JPN) bt Storm Sanders (AUS) 7-6 (7/3), 6-3

Jessica Pegula (USA x23) bt Anastasia Potapova (RUS) 6-2, 6-2

Anett Kontaveit (EST x28) bt Samantha Stosur (AUS) 6-3, 6-0

Jil Teichmann (SUI) bt Cristina Bucsa (ESP) 6-3, 6-4

Fiona Ferro (FRA) bt Nao Hibino (JPN) 6-1, 6-4

Iga Swiatek (POL x7) bt Jamie Loeb (USA) 6-3, 6-4

Karolína Plíšková (CZE x4) bt Caty McNally (USA) 6-3, 6-4

Amanda Anisimova (USA) bt Zarina Diyas (KAZ) 7-5, 6-2

Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS) bt Katie Volynets (USA) 6-3, 6-1

Petra Martic (CRO x30) bt Dalma Gálfi (HUN) 6-3, 6-2

Paula Badosa (ESP x24) bt Alison Van Uytvanck (BEL) 6-4, 6-3

Varvara Gracheva (RUS) bt Nuria Párrizas (ESP) 5-7, 6-0, 6-2

Anna Karolína Schmiedlová (SVK) bt Ashlyn Krueger (USA) 7-5, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS x14) bt Alison Riske (USA) 6-4, 6-2

Petra Kvitova (CZE x10) bt Polona Hercog (SLO) 6-1, 6-2

Kristýna Plíšková (CZE) bt Danka Kovinic (MNE) 6-4, 6-3

Katerina Siniaková (CZE) bt Anastasija Sevastova (LAT) 7-6 (8/6), 6-3

Maria Sakkari (GRE x17) bt Marta Kostyuk (UKR) 6-4, 6-3

Greet Minnen (BEL) bt Nadia Podoroska (ARG) 6-4, 1-6, 6-3

Liudmila Samsonova (RUS) bt Katie Boulter (GBR) 6-3, 6-2

Lauren Davis (USA) bt Viktoriya Tomova (BUL) 6-2, 2-6, 6-3

Bianca Andreescu (CAN x6) bt Viktorija Golubic (SUI) 7-5, 4-6, 7-5