Cilic, Ivanovic advance to China Open 2nd round

BEIJING (AP) Newly crowned U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic struggled at times with his consistency but held on to beat Chinese wildcard entry Bai Yan 6-3, 6-4 to move into the second round of the China Open on Monday.

Cilic appeared rusty in his first match since winning his maiden Grand Slam title this month, missing on routine groundstrokes and only converting two of 10 break points against the 462nd-ranked Bai.

But the fourth-seeded Cilic smacked seven aces and saved all four break points he faced.

On the women's side, ninth-seeded Ana Ivanovic took advantage of eight double-faults by Belinda Bencic to beat the rising Swiss teenager 6-2, 6-1.

No. 1-ranked Serena Williams was to play her first-round match against Spain's Silvia Soler Espinosa later Monday.