Avanesyan beats Riera 6-2 6-4 in Sao Paulo first round

Elina Avanesyan made a clean start to her Sao Paulo campaign, seeing off Argentina's Julia Riera 6-2, 6-4 in the round of 32. The match turned on Riera's serve, which broke down early: she landed just 35.8% of her first deliveries and won only 26.5% of the points behind her second, a rate that left her permanently exposed. Avanesyan was steadier from the ground of the service line, putting 64.4% of first serves in and winning 61.7% of those points, though six double faults each kept things from being comfortable. The Armenian moves through with a straight-sets win on hard court.