Iga Swiatek kicked off her campaign at the Cincinnati Open with a battling three-set victory over Varvara Gracheva.

Swiatek was made to work hard in her opener in Ohio as she secured a 6-0 6-7(8) 6-2 win against Gracheva.

The Pole wrapped up the first set in 50 minutes – dishing out yet another bagel of the season – and looked set to stroll to a straight-sets victory when she led 5-2 in the second, but Gracheva managed to save five match points and force a tie-break.

Swiatek again looked on course to ease through the breaker as she held a 4-2 lead, but Gracheva produced a fine comeback to win four consecutive points to force a third set.

However, the Pole regained her composure and focus to break Gracheva three times in the third set and claim a first-round win after 2 hours and 11 minutes.

“For sure, the transition is probably the hardest, from the slowest surface [clay at Roland Garros] to the fastest surface,” Swiatek said after the match.

“But that’s why I’m still happy with my performance, and looking forward to another match to kind of still do the grinding and implement what I was working on, but not really focusing on the results.”

She added: “For sure it wasn’t easy, but I’m happy that I could have 6-0 5-2 in my first match on hard court.

“Varvara was fighting and I wasn’t able to close in the second set, but I’m happy that I could figure it out in the third and start playing the same kind of game as at the beginning of the match.”

Swiatek will face Marta Kostyuk in the next round.

In the men’s draw, former world No. 1 Daniil Medvedev suffered a shock second-round exit in Cincinnati after a straight-sets defeat at the hands of Jiri Lehecka.

Since reaching the semi-finals at Wimbledon earlier this summer, Medvedev has struggled to maintain much consistency and this was shown once again as he slipped to a 7-6(2) 6-4 loss.

It was an even bigger shock as Lehecka only returned from injury in July after facing a spell of two months on the sidelines due to a back injury.

“It’s amazing to be back, to be honest,” Lehecka said in his post-match interview. “It was a long time since I was playing on a big stage, so I enjoyed every moment of it today.

“To get a win against such a good, talented player as Daniil is just a bonus for me.”

Jannik Sinner started his campaign in Cincinnati with a straight-sets victory over home favourite Alex Michelsen.

The world No. 1 was coming off the back of a disappointing defeat in the quarter-finals of the Montreal Open, but he bounced back in style to secure a 6-4 7-5 victory.

Sinner saved all eight break points he faced in the match and eased any concerns over a hip complaint.

“I felt like for the first round match, it was a good quality match,” Sinner said afterwards.

“He [Michelsen] served very well and also from the back of the court he was playing very solid tennis.

“He’s a very young player. I see a good future for him and from my point of view, it was a tough match.

“Physically, for sure, I can get better, but I felt like I was moving much better. Tomorrow I have one day off, which for me is good, and hopefully I can be ready on Friday.”