NEW YORK, Sept 1 ― Former champion Angelique Kerber returned to action for the first time in seven months and beat Australian Ajla Tomljanovic 6-4 6-4 yesterday to reach the second round of the US Open.

The 17th-seeded German, who entered the match having not competed since the fourth round of the Australian Open, overcame a shaky start on serve and got better as the 88-minute match at Louis Armstrong Stadium wore on.

“It's not easy to play your first match after such a long time and it was my first match after Australia so I'm really happy how I played for the first match,” said Kerber.

“It's always a little bit different to play points, and especially a match, than playing just practice points so I am happy how I did the transition to the match court now.”

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Kerber was sidelined with a leg injury before the Covid-19 outbreak forced a shutdown of global tennis in March and did not compete in last week's warm-up event played on the site of the US Open.

But despite the lack of recent competitive action, the 32-year-old former world number one needed only a handful of games to shake off the rust and never looked back as she improved her career record against Tomljanovic to 2-0.

Kerber, a three-times Grand Slam champion who triumphed at Flushing Meadows in 2016, traded breaks with Tomljanovic through the first four games of the match and then found her footing.

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The German southpaw converted all three break-point chances to pull ahead 5-4 and went on to serve out at love to grab the first set when world number 59 Tomljanovic sent a forehand into the net.

In the second, Kerber quickly settled into a groove and broke her opponent twice before sealing the win on her third match point when a Tomljanovic forehand sailed long.

The US Open is the first Grand Slam to be contested in the Covid-19 era and is being held without spectators to help prevent spread of the virus. ― Reuters