Hibino begins Tashkent Open with comfortable win

Nao Hibino made a successful start to her Tashkent Open defence with a comfortable straight-sets victory over Komola Umarova.

Fourth seed Hibino dominated her Uzbek opponent throughout Monday's 6-3 6-1 victory, despite dropping her first service game in both sets.

They were rare blips for the world number 78 as she quickly levelled a reeled off a string of successive games, her second set performance particularly dominant as Umarova could only win nine points.

Fellow seeds Kurumi Nara and Denisa Allertova are also through after easy wins over Dayana Yastremska and Hiroko Kuwata respectively.

Stefanie Voegele needed to battle in her 7-5 5-7 7-5 win over Sabina Sharipova, while Maria Sakkari had to come from a set down to dispatch Anna Karolina Schmiedlova.