Auckland Classic: Caroline Wozniacki and Venus Williams off to flying starts

Caroline Wozniacki and Venus Williams got their seasons up and running in fine style with easy victories in the first round of the Auckland Classic.

Wozniacki, the tournament’s top seed, beat Israeli qualifier Julia Glushko 6-3 6-2 while Williams dropped only one game in despatching Slovakia's Jana Cepelova 6-1 6-0.

But Svetlana Kuznetsova, the fifth seed, joined first day losers Sara Errani of Italy, the second seed, and Germany's Mona Barthel - the No 8 seed - on the plane out of New Zealand.

Wozniacki, who showed signs towards the end of last season that she is getting back to her best, made few unforced errors as she cruised past Glushko in 69 minutes with a 75 per cent first serve success rate to set up a second round meeting with American wildcard Taylor Townsend.

Williams was even more impressive hammering 10 aces to dispose of Cepelova in a one-way contest.

The veteran had too much power and pace and declared herself satisfied with her opening match of the season.

"Absolutely, because usually when you win a match more easily it means you're doing everything right," she said.

“I would like to play as many matches as possible and thankfully I felt pretty comfortable on the court so that's a plus.

"I was happy with my serve. I felt comfortable at the net and I was pretty calm. Sometimes your mind can be going a thousand miles an hour, especially when it's the first match of the season, so for the most part I felt like I was playing in real time and not fast forward."

Former world No 2 Kuznetsova fell to Czech qualifier Lucie Hradecka in a three-set marathon 3-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-4.

Polish qualifier Urzula Radwanska also produced an upset with a 6-4 7-5 win over 2010 French Open winner Francesca Schiavone from Italy.

Radwanksa was 5-0 up in the first set before Schiavone gained a feel for the pace of the game and although she became more formidable in the second set Radwanksa took the match on her second match point.