American Coco Vandeweghe made a winning return to the WTA tour Monday, beating Marie Bouzkova 6-2, 6-4 in the first round in San Jose. It was her first match in 10 months.
Vandeweghe, once ranked as high as ninth in the world, hadn’t played a WTA singles match since falling in the first round of the China Open last September, having been slowed for much of 2018 by a nagging ankle injury that was followed by a foot injury.
“To think that five months ago I wasn’t even walking, I’m just full of tons of emotions,” the 27-year-old said after wrapping up the victory with an ace on match point in one hour and 23 minutes.
She hadn’t won a singles match since June of 2018, and in her extended absence has dropped to 636th in the world.
“First and foremost, I was thinking of having fun,” she said of her mindset coming into the tournament, for which she received a wild card.
While she missed the first edition of the tournament in San Jose last year, Vandeweghe was a two-time finalist in the event’s previous incarnation in Stanford.
Vandeweghe earned a second-round meeting with second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus.
Results
1st rd
Daria Kasatkina (RUS) bt Mihaela Buzarnescu (ROM) 6-2, 6-2
Mayo Hibi (JPN) bt Timea Babos (HUN) 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7/3)
Maria Sakkari (GRE x7) bt Ekaterina Alexandrova (RUS) 6-1, 6-4
Kristie Ahn (USA) bt Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP x6) bt Magda Linette (POL) 6-3, 6-3
Coco Vandeweghe (USA) bt Marie Bouzkova (CZE) 6-2, 6-4