Barty rallies, Kerber falls to the 1st round of the US Open

NEW YORK – Ash Barty, seeded second, topped a slow start and a fragile service allowed him to survive the scare of the first round on the opening day of the US Open.

Barty, the Roland-Garros champion, had amassed 36 unforced errors and less than half of his first serve en route to a 1-6, 6-3-6-2 victory Monday over Kazakhstan's Zarina Diyas, ranked 80th.

The Aussie lost the first set in just 28 minutes and started to come to life only when the match was tied at 3-3 in the second. She then won nine of the last 11 games, ending the game when Diyas made a long forehand.

"I was happy with the way I was able to fight after a pretty awful start," Barty said. "Not the ideal start, not the perfect start, but that's it."

Barty's match helped kick off an opening day featuring eight former US Open champions, including the highest-ranked champion. Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka. The main event is the opening match of the Arthur Ashe Stadium, when Serena Williams faces Maria Sharapova at the US Open for the first time. Williams has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, including five Sharapova titles.

Third seed Karolina Pliskova also struggled to qualify for the first round, overcoming 32 unforced errors to win her first-round match against Czech qualifier Tereza Martincova 7-6 (6), 7-6 (3).

And the French Kristina Mladenovic beat the champion number 14 and champion of the US Open 2016 Angélique Kerber 7-5, 0-6, 6-4. Kerber's defeat in the first round follows the second round at Roland Garros and Wimbledon this year.

12th-seeded Anastasija Sevastova defeated Eugénie Bouchard, a former Wimbledon finalist and top-10 player 6-3, 6-3. Former Olympic gold medalist Monica Puig is tied with Rebecca Peterson of Sweden. And Russia's Ekaterina Alexandrova defeated 2011 US Open champion Samantha Stosur 6-1, 6-3.