WOZNIACKI IN CRUISE CONTROL

Top seed Caroline Wozniacki made comfortable progress into the second round of the US Open with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over American wild card entrant Chelsey Gullickson.

The 20 year-old, seeded first here due to the absence of Serena Williams with a foot injury, arrived at the US Open in excellent form having won in Montreal and New Haven in the space of six days last week.

Wozniacki saved a break point in game one and it proved to be the first of six points she won in a row en route to breaking Gullickson instead, setting the tone for the first set which began just before midnight in New York.

Wozniacki will be aiming to go one better than she did last year, when she lost to Kim Clijsters in the final.

Much earlier in the day, fourth seed Jelena Jankovic admitted she had enjoyed a lucky escape after scraping past Simona Halep, winning 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 but only after world number 96 Halep had served for the match at 5-4 in the decider.

'First-round matches are never easy and today was really hard. It wasn't my best game, so I had to work hard to get through,' Jankovic said. 'It was tough, I was lucky to get through and to have another chance.'

Jankovic will face Croatia's Mirjana Lucic in the second round, the 1999 Wimbledon semi-finalist who vanished off the tour for several years due to personal and financial problems.