Gavrilova into Connecticut second round

Australian Daria Gavrilova has reached the Connecticut Open second round after a three-sets win over world No.40 Kristyna Pliskova.

Gavrilova was unconvincing in the 7-5 4-6 7-5 victory on Monday at the WTA tournament in the week leading to the US Open.

Gavrilova, ranked 26 in the world, lost serve in the opening game before breaking back twice to win the opening set.

In a match where both players struggled on serve, Gavrilova was broken twice while losing the second set and could only convert one of six opportunities to break her Czech opponent.

The 23-year-old again endured two breaks in the third set but took three of her 10 break points, including four match points, to claim victory in two hours and 12 minutes.

Gavrilova will play Timea Babos for a place in the quarter-finals after the Hungarian's 7-5 7-5 win over Kristina Mladenovic.

Meanwhile Petra Kvitova's final tuneup for the US Open ended with a 6-2 6-1 loss to Shuai Zhang of China.

Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion and a three-time champion in New Haven, is just 4-4 on hard courts this season.

The Czech player returned to the tour at the French Open in May after she was stabbed during a home invasion in December, leaving her dominant left hand seriously injured.

Zhang, ranked 29th, was playing her first match in the United States since April.

"I just arrived in New Haven last night, coming straight from China," she said. "It's a big change. It's 12 hours' time difference. Before the match I was still sleeping."

In other matches, Canadian Eugenie Bouchard breezed past higher-ranked American Lauren Davis 6-3 6-1.

Bouchard, a wild-card entry who reached a career-best No. 5 in the rankings in 2014, has struggled recently, slipping to 74. She next faces top-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska.

Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium beat Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine 6-2 6-3 while Romania's Ana Bogdan got past Russia's Elena Vesnina 7-5 7-5.