Spain's Muguruza cruises into second round of Australian Open

Melbourne, Jan 15 (IANS) Garbine Muguruza advanced to the second round of the Australian Open on Tuesday after beating Zheng Saisai in straight sets.The No.18 seed beat her Chinese opponent 6-2, 6-3 in just over an hour and 20 minutes.The two-time Grand Slam champion, and a quarterfinalist in Melbourne in 2017, played seamlessly in the first set against Zheng, dropping just two points in her first three service games, piling up the pressure on her opponent, who cracked first, giving the Spaniard a break at 4-2, reports Efe news.Muguruza batted away a break-back point and reeled off the last two games and quickly wrapped up the opening set.She had a wobbly start to the second set as Zheng came back into the game and secured a 5-1 lead.Muguruza will now face Johanna Konta, who beat Ajla Tomljanovic 7-6(4), 2-6, 7-6(7) earlier in the day.
--IANS kk/bg