Muguruza powers thru'

Reigning Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza was excited to reach the second round yesterday at the US Open while former world number one Maria Sharapova was poised to swipe the Broadway spotlight.

Spanish third seed Muguruza matched her best showing on the New York hardcourts in five tries by defeating American Varvara Lepchenko 6-0, 6-3 for her first triumph in Arthur Ashe Stadium.

"Very happy I'm in the second round," said Muguruza. "I've been here so many times and I've never done very well. I will try again and hopefully it will happen."

The 23-year-old Spaniard improved to 17-2 since the start of her London Grand Slam title run, a stretch that also included a crown at Cincinnati in the last major US Open tuneup.

Muguruza, who won last year's French Open and reached this year's Australian Open quarter-finals, can reach the New York third round for the first time Wednesday by defeating either US qualifier Claire Liu or China's Duan Ying-Ying. After dominating the first set, Muguruza fought through most of the second before breaking 64th-ranked Lepchenko at love in the penultimate game.

Sharapova was set to face Romania's second-ranked Simona Halep in the night feature match, the Russian star's first Grand Slam match since serving a 15-month doping suspension.