Muguruza, the world number four, led the day-long parade of top seeds onto court and needed 85 minutes to dispatch the Belgian qualifier before turning the stadium over to newly-minted Czech world number one Karolina Pliskova who will play her first match as the top-ranked player against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Despite an unthreatening world ranking of 82, Flipkens represented a tricky first test for Muguruza with the Spaniard holding only a slight 3-2 edge in their head-to-head meetings. Both players were making their third appearance at the Canadian event with Flipkens having found more success after advancing to the third round in 2013.
Muguruza had managed just one match win in her two previous visits. “It (first set) was tough, Kirsten is such a talented player. I’m very happy that I finally did it,” said Muguruza in a courtside interview.
“I tried to reduce the mistakes I made in the first set and I was a little more lucky there, I just wanted it so much.”
Muguruza was tested during an uneven opening and served for the first set at 5-4 before double faulting to hand Flipkens a break. The world number four hit back with a break of her own and then held serve to clinch the opening set, despite 30 unforced errors. Muguruza looked much more like the player who dropped only one set on her way to the Wimbledon title after that and collected the early break in the second set to take control of the contest.
American teenager Catherine Bellis continued her brilliant form on the North American hardcourts by taking down eighth seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 7-5 to reach the third round. The 18-year-old arrived in Toronto after reaching the semi-finals last week at Stanford.
On Tuesday, Eugenie Bouchard’s mid-season nosedive continued as the Canadian was swept aside 6-3, 6-4 by Croatian qualifier Donna Vekic despite having home advantage and the backing of an excited crowd in a first round clash.
With only one match win since her French Open second round exit, Bouchard was hoping a visit home would result in a return to the victory column. But she drew little inspiration from the crowd as she added to a long list of disappointing efforts, committing 32 unforced errors and seven double faults while being broken six times by a 21-year-old making a her first appearance in the main draw.
Bouchard, ranked as high as number five and hailed as the next big thing in women’s tennis when she reached the Wimbledon final and the semi-finals at the Australian Open and Roland Garros in 2014, has seen her ranking plummet to 70 in the world and needed a wildcard entry into her home tournament.
Former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki opened her campaign with a 6-3, 6-0 second round rout of Ekaterina Alexandrova. The Dane, who captured the Canadian trophy in 2010, is still looking for her first title of the season after being in five finals.
Polish 10th seed Agnieszka Radwanska, the Rogers Cup winner in 2014, kicked off her North American hardcourt campaign with a regulation 6-3, 6-3 win over American CoCo Vandeweghe, who lost the final in Stanford on Sunday to compatriot Madison Keys. Russian 16th seed Elena Vesnina was also an easy winner, dispatching another American Alison Riske 6-3, 6-3.