Karolina Pliskova, of the Czech Republic, returns a shot to Anhelina Kalinina, of the Ukraine, during the first round of the US Open tennis championships, Aug 31, 2020, in New York. (FRANK FRANKLIN II / AP)

WASHINGTON - Top seed Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic reached the second round of the US Open with a clinical win over Ukraine's Anhelina Kalinina on Monday.

Karolina Pliskova will take on No 32 seed Caroline Garcia in the next round

Competing as the top seed at a Grand Slam for the second time in her career, Pliskova shook off some early rust in a tricky first set before soaring to a confident 6-4, 6-0 victory over Kalinina in 62 minutes.

"I think this match, especially the first set was in couple of periods," Pliskova said. "I think I started not really great with the first game, but then I was able to play quite aggressively, and I was making a lot of points."

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Pliskova had stumbled last week in her first tournament of the season's resumption at the Western & Southern Open, where she was upset in her opening match by Russia's Veronika Kudermetova 7-5, 6-4.

But Pliskova returned to the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Monday with renewed confidence, and fired 26 winners and seven aces en route to victory.

Pliskova will take on No 32 seed Caroline Garcia in the next round, after the Frenchwoman defeated Jasmine Paolini of Italy 6-3, 6-2 in her first round match.