Top seed Karolina Pliskova has advanced to the US Open second round as grand slam tennis returned for the first time in nearly seven full months.

Pliskova defeated Anhelina Kalinina 6-4 6-0 victory as the Open started without spectators amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Three-time grand slam champion Angelique Kerber, the 2016 winner in New York, also progressed with a 6-4 6-4 win over Australian Ajla Tomljanovic in a nearly empty Louis Armstrong Stadium.

Marketa Vondrousova was the first winner of the tournament, the 2019 French Open runner-up ousting Greet Minnen 6-1 6-4.

There were about 15 people, including reporters, scattered in the stands of an arena that holds about 14,000.

The professional tennis tours were on hiatus from March until August because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The last grand slam matches were at the Australian Open, which ended in early February.

The French Open was postponed from May to late September and Wimbledon was cancelled for the first time since World War II.