Rogers Cup 2015: Heather Watson kicks off her north American hard-court campaign with easy win over Irina Falconi

The British No 1 will face world No 16 Andrea Petkovic in the second round

Heather Watson took little over an hour to beat Irina Falconi (Getty Images)

British No 1 Heather Watson kick-started her north American hard-court campaign with an emphatic victory in Toronto.

Having lost to Louisa Chirico first time out in Washington in her first match since Wimbledon, Watson earned a place in the main draw for the Rogers Cup in Canada with two victories in qualifying and went on to win her first-round match against Irina Falconi 6-1, 6-2 in just over an hour.

Falconi, the world No 75, did not help her own cause with six double faults. Watson will meet Andrea Petkovic, the world No 16, in the second round.

Serena Williams, playing her first match on the north American hard-court circuit after pulling out of the Stanford tournament last week with an elbow injury, beat Italy’s Flavia Pennetta 2-6, 6-3, 6-0. Eugenie Bouchard’s problems continued when she suffered her eighth first-round defeat in her last 10 events, losing 6-0, 5-7, 6-2 to Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic.

In Montreal Andy Murray was scheduled to resume his opening match against Tommy Robredo after rain had brought a halt to proceedings 24 hours earlier with Murray serving at 4-4 and 40-30 in the first set.

Novak Djokovic beat Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci 6-3, 7-6, Milos Raonic lost 7-6, 7-6 to Ivo Karlovic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the defending champion, beat Borna Coric 6-4, 6-4.

Britain will play their first Davis Cup semi-final for 34 years at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow next month. They take on Australia in the same venue where they beat the United States earlier this year.

The capacity will be increased to 8,200 as Britain attempt to reach the final for the first time since 1978.