Caroline Wozniacki outlasts Monica Puig to advance in Sydney

Former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki needed three sets to survive her first-round match Monday at the Apia International Sydney tournament in Sydney, Australia.

Wozniacki, the No. 10 seed, outlasted reigning Olympic gold medalist Monica Puig of Puerto Rico 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 to advance to the second round against Yulia Putintseva.

Coming off a quarterfinal appearance at the ASB Classic, Wozniacki rode an early break of serve in the third set to dispatch Puig.

"I was proud of how I managed to just keep grinding today," Wozniacki said. "I feel pretty good. I'm not nervous about my form. I think it's going to be fine."

Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, ranked No. 5 in the world, barely broke a sweat with a dominant 6-2, 6-0 victory over Laura Siegemund. A finalist here in 2013, Cibulkova next plays Canada's Eugenie Bouchard, who won her opening match Sunday.

Former U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur of Australia was not as fortunate, getting bounced in straight sets 6-3, 6-1 by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Stosur also was eliminated in the first round at Brisbane and has lost seven straight matches.

On the men's side, No. 5 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany eased to a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Fabio Fognini. Kohlschreiber won 75 percent of his first-serve points and will face either Jordan Thompson or Thanasi Kokkinakis in the second round.

Portugal's Gastao Elias and Italy's Paolo Lorenzi each advanced with three-set victories. Elias struggled past Aussie qualifier Christopher O'Connell and next plays top seed Dominic Thiem. Lorenzi will face two-time defending champion and No. 3 seed Viktor Troicki after knocking off Florian Mayer.

Other first-round winners included Australian qualifier Matthew Barton and Britain's Daniel Evans.