Safarova recovers to edge out Keys

luciesafarova

The world number 15 was the highest seeded player in action on the first day of the WTA Premier hard-court event in Tokyo, but she had to battle to overcome Keys in over two and a quarter hours.

Safarova had served for the first set at 5-4, but she allowed the American to break back before Keys took the initiative in the tie-break to leave the Czech with much to do.

The seventh seed was up to the task, however, and took the second set with a break in game 10, despite having won just 64 per cent of points on her first serve compared to Keys' 92.

Safarova was more dominant in the decider, breaking the American in games six and eight to close out the win and book a last-16 clash with Belinda Bencic.

Wildcard Bencic had little trouble in seeing off Svetlana Kuznetsova in straight sets, coming through 6-3 6-0 in just over an hour.

Breaks in games three and nine in the opening set gave her the lead, before Kuznetsova folded in the second, double-faulting four times as Bencic swept her aside.

Garbine Muguruza booked a second-round tie with fourth seed Jelena Jankovic after getting the better of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3 7-6 (7-3).

After a double break handed her the first set, Muguruza was in danger of losing the second at 5-4 down, but she broke the Russian before going on to take control of the tie-break to advance to the last 16.

Joining her in the second round will be Elina Svitolina, who saw off Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova 6-4 6-1.

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