Jessica Pegula returns after injury absence, thrashes Sasnovich in 's-Hertogenbosch

Jessica Pegula missed the entire European clay court season but is back in action this week at the Libema Open in 's-Hertogenbosch and is through to the second round after easing past Aliaksandra Sasnovich.

Coming into this week, Pegula was an interesting conundrum. No real information has been given about what injury she suffered and the extent of it. But what is known is that she was only around a week away from playing at Roland Garros so was certainly on the comeback trail.

Saving herself as a result for grass, she passed her first test with flying colours. She has not played since the Billie Jean King Cup in April where she and Emma Navarro anchored the USA to victory over Belgium. Albeit both players back then were injured so she wasn't 100%` on national duty.

She then withdrew from Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart due to a tight turnaround. But then suffered further setbacks in her comeback with injury which meant she had to delay it until the grass court season. It is very much making up for lost time now for Pegula who has fell in the rankings and has gone from being one of the most consistent players on the WTA tour to hardly playing.

The top seed beat Sasnovich in just under an hour in two dominant sets to show no real signs of rust and come through unscathed. She won 73% of first serve points and only faced one break point in the whole match whilst converting 5/7 on the serve of Sasnovich. The first set saw the pair locked in at 2-2. But Pegula ran away with it from there sealing four games on the spin for a 6-2 opener. The second was a bit more academic completing the win with Pegula going 5-1 up at one point before being broken back. But she broke back again to seal the win and stave off any comeback attempt. Next up is Aliaksandra Krunic or Jessika Ponchet. Veronika Kudermetova is the likely seed in her section and is in no form at all so it is a good chance to build for the American.