Olympic champion Monica Puig thrashed American Varvara Lepchenko 6-0, 6-3 at the Pan Pacific Open Monday, her first victory since winning a stunning gold in Rio. Puig beat Germany's Angelique Kerber in last month's Olympic final to nab Puerto Rico's first ever gold medal. "A win is a win for me," shrugged the world No. 33 after her first-round victory in rainy Tokyo. "I'm just trying to finish the season strong and play some good tennis," added Puig, who crashed out of the US Open in the first round. "The whole ride from the Olympics has been very crazy and very emotional so it feels good to settle down and play some good tennis again." Elsewhere, wildcard Naomi Osaka overpowered fellow Japanese Misaki Doi 6-4, 6-4 to reach the second round. The 18-year-old, born to a Japanese mother and Haitian father and who models her game on Serena Williams, seemed almost embarrassed after needing just 85 minutes to complete an upset victory. "It was a close match but to be honest I felt like all the pressure was on her," world No. 66 Osaka told reporters. "I didn't feel any pressure at all so I wasn't nervous or anything." Osaka, who can smack her serves at close to 200 kilometers per hour (124 miles per hour), will face either sixth seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia or Czech Lucie Safarova after taking care of Doi, Japan's top-ranked player at 34th in the world. "I have never actually won a match in the main draw at this tournament so this is a special win," said Osaka. Two further first-round matches were postponed because of typhoon rains over Tokyo. German teenager wins St Petersburg opener In Saint Petersburg, German teenager Alexander Zverev, ranked 27th in the world, Monday cruised into the second round of the St Petersburg Open with a straight-set win over Russian wildcard Karen Khachanov. The 19-year-old fifth seed won his first ever meeting with Khachanov 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, as he targets his maiden ATP title. The German took the opening set in a tiebreak after 47 minutes before fighting back from 3-0 down in the second set to close out the match in one hour 25 minutes. The Monte Carlo resident will now face the winner of the clash between Russians Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Bublik for a place in the last eight. "I was really nervous at the beginning as I didn't play for three weeks after the US Open," Zverev said. "Luckily, I then managed to find my rhythm and everything went fine for me." Earlier, Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania, 83rd in the ATP rankings, ousted Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 7-6 (9-7), 3-6, 6-3 to set up a meeting with fourth seeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut. Mannarino produced a catalogue of errors from the start but forced his way back from a break down to force a tiebreak, which the 26-year-old Lithuanian won. In the second Berankis was 2-0 up with an early break but Mannarino broke back twice to level at one set all. The opponents traded breaks throughout the deciding set but Berankis edged it to claim the set and the match in two hours six minutes. "It wasn't that easy as my opponent performed a variety of shots making it difficult for me," Berankis said. "We were both up and down today but at the end I was a bit more lucky." Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic dropped serve twice but broke Argentina's Diego Schwartzman on five occasions in a 6-4, 6-4 win in 80 minutes. The 31-year-old will now meet top-seeded Swiss Stan Wawrinka, the freshly crowned US Open champion who enjoyed an opening-round bye. — Agencies
