Mason, OH (Sports Network) - Ninth seed Angelique Kerber of Germany rallied to win her first-round match and American Venus Williams breezed into the second round Monday at the $2.369 million Western & Southern Open tennis event. Kerber, last years finalist, disposed of Italian Karin Knapp, 6-7 (6-8), 6-0, 6-1. Williams, playing in only her second event since a first-round loss at the French Open, carved up a 6-4, 6-1 victory against Slovakian qualifier Jana Cepelova. Williams has been hampered by a low back injury this year, but she moved into round two in a swift 66 minutes. Former U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur posted a first-round victory. The 11th-seeded Aussie got past former top-five Russian star and fellow former U.S. Open winner Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-1, 7-5, on the hardcourts at the Lindner Family Tennis Center. Stosur was a hardcourt titlist in Carlsbad, Calif., two weeks ago. Italian Roberta Vinci, the No. 12 seed, ousted American wild card Bethanie Mattek-Sands, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3. Meanwhile, 16th-seeded Russian Maria Kirilenko outlasted Georgian qualifier Anna Tatishvili, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-4). In action involving Americans on Day 1, Sloane Stephens held off Croatian qualifier Petra Martic 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, qualifier Vania King topped Frances Kristina Mladenovic 6-3, 6-4, and wild card Lauren Davis surprised Czech veteran Klara Zakopalova 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-1). Stephens is rewarded with a second-rounder against 2011 champion, 2010 runner-up and former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova, while King will meet former top-ranked star Victoria Azarenka in her next outing. Also advancing were qualifiers Marina Erakovic of New Zealand and Eugenie Bouchard of Canada, Russian Alisa Kleybanova and Romanian Simona Halep, who has won three WTA titles since mid June. Up next for Halep will be Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli. This weeks top seed is last weeks Toronto titlist, Serena Williams, whos also the reigning U.S. and French Open champ. Chinas Li Na beat Kerber in last years Western & Southern finale. Li will meet Davis in the round of 32 here. This weeks winner will earn $426,000. The tournament is part of the U.S. Open Series, or the North American hardcourt events that lead up to the U.S. Open, which will commence August 26. Mets Jerseys China . Belfort (24-10) needed just 77 seconds to down Henderson in the headlining bout of Saturdays "UFC Fight Night: Belfort vs. Henderson" event at Goiania Arena in Goiania, Brazil. The fight served as a rematch of the pairs 2006 meeting, which Henderson won by decision. Custom Mets Jerseys . Datsyuk will miss Tuesdays game against New Jersey and could be sidelined longer, while Cleary will likely miss at least the next three games. Its been an injury-plagued season for Datsyuk, who has suited up for just 39 games. http://www.custommetsjersey.com/ . "We have always prided ourselves on the way we play defence. Having two big pieces back is going to be a key for us moving forward for years to come," said Knighthawks head coach Mike Hasen. Cheap Mets Jerseys . The parade and rally were held to celebrate the Saskatchewan Roughriders 45-23 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Sunday in the CFLs championship game. Wholesale Custom Mets Shirts . This should be celebrated because it will not always be this way. With the amount of money given to players by their clubs these days, it is a wonder that so many of those teams allow the sport to continue to take away many of their assets so they can play for a different team in the middle of their season. ST. LOUIS -- The mens soccer team at Washington University in St. Louis has been indefinitely suspended for what the university calls sexually explicit comments and other inappropriate behavior toward the womens soccer team.Members of the womens team alerted administrators Wednesday. The suspension of the mens program was announced Friday night.The university said in a statement that comments made toward members of the womens team in an online document from 2015 were degrading and sexually explicit.Provost Holdeen Thorp also said in a statement that the allegations suggest an unacceptable culture.dddddddddddd The university declined further comment.Three mens teams in the Ivy League have been involved in suspensions for similar behavior since November: Harvard University mens soccer, some members of Columbia Universitys wrestling team and Princeton Universitys mens swimming and diving team. ' ' '