TENNIS in DEPTH.

Kim Clijsters was a straight-set opening-round winner Monday at the U.S. Open.

The second-seeded former world No. 1 Clijsters got past Hungarian Greta Arn 6-0, 7-5 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

Clijsters steamrolled Arn in 18 minutes in the bagel first set, but the Belgian then fell behind 0-4 in the second before rebounding to avoid a three- set afternoon. Clijsters won seven of the last eight games to advance.

The 27-year-old Clijsters is seeking her third U.S. Open championship, She beat Dane Caroline Wozniacki in last year’s finale here and has now won her last 15 matches in Flushing. She also titled here in 2005 and skipped the 2006-08 editions due to either injury or retirement. Clijsters came out of retirement last summer and captured the U.S. Open in only her third tournament back.

Clijsters was also the U.S. Open runner-up in 2003.

Sixth-seeded French Open champion Francesca Schiavone cruised with a 6-1, 6-0 dismantling of Japan’s Ayumi Morita, while former U.S. Open runner-up Elena Dementieva drubbed Belarusian Olga Govortsova 6-1, 6-2. Dementieva reached the final here in 2004.

Other seeded victors on Day 1 were No. 28 Russian Alisa Kleybanova and No. 29 Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko.

Last year’s U.S. Open darling, American Melanie Oudin, advanced with a 6-3, 6-0 throttling of Ukrainian Olga Savchuk. The teenage Oudin reached the quarterfinals here a year ago, including an upset victory over Dementieva.

Additional Monday wins came for Italians Sara Errani and Maria Elena Camerin and Brit Elena Baltacha.

The 2010 U.S. Open champion will earn at least $1.7 million.

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