NÜRNBERG, May 21, 2018

Two-time defending champion Kiki Bertens headlined Monday’s first round action at the Nürnberger Versicherungscup. The No. 3 seed from Belgium eased past Serbian qualifier Dejana Radanovic 6-1, 6-1.

Bertens converted six of her seven break point opportunities, making it 13 consecutive victories in Nürnberg after exactly one hour of play.

.@NuernbergerCup defending champ @kikibertens advances to the second round!

Ousts Dejana Radanovic 6-1, 6-1! pic.twitter.com/gSB2ShbU9p

— WTA (@WTA) 21. Mai 2018

“It’s always nice to come back here to Nurnberg, it brings great memories,” said Bertens, who lifted the trophy at the WTA International Event as a qualifier in 2016 and one year later as the tournament’s top seed. “I was just really glad to be back on court, hearing the fans cheer for me as well was so nice.”

Bertens will next take on either Carina Witthöft or Mona Barthel. The all-German-affair was suspended due to consistent rain after Barthel took the opening set 7-5.

Krstyna Pliskova upsets Görges

Earlier in the day, Kristyna Pliskova knocked out No. 2 seed Julia Görges 6-2, 6-7, 7-6. The 26-year-old from the Czech Republic withstood 12 aces, hitting 10 of her own to secure victory in two hours and 33 minutes.

“It was really tough, I mean Julia was serving so good in the final two sets,” Pliskova said afterwards. “I was a break up in the second set and also had match point, so it was really tough mentally to ‘forget’ the second and start new in the third.”

Up next, Pliskova will take on Lara Arruabarrena of Spain, who defeated German wild card entry Katharina Hobgarski 7-6, 6-1 on Sunday.

“I think it will be a totally different match against Arruabarrena, because she’s not serving as big as Julia,” Pliskova said. “I think I will have more opportunities on her serve, but also she’s running better and she’s putting more balls back. So it’ll be a tough match.”