Volvo Car Open: Top-ranked Barty cruises in 1st clay event since 2019

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Top-ranked Ashleigh Barty easily won her first clay-court match in two years, cruising past Japan’s Misaki Doi 6-2, 6-1 on Wednesday in the WTA’s Volvo Car Open.

Barty, fresh off a championship run at the Miami Open the past two weeks, had little trouble moving from hard courts to clay.

She won 10 of the last 11 games in her first match on the slower surface since winning the 2019 French Open.

Not all the high seeds made the transition as smoothly as the top-seeded Australian.

Second-seeded American Sofia Kenin fell to Lauren Davis of the United States in three sets, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.