NEW YORK, NY, USA – Two-time finalists and 2013 champions Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka rebounded from a disappointing finish to their Olympic tennis event with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Denisa Allertova and Anna-Lena Friedsam in the first round of the US Open.

Silver medalists at the Olympics four years ago, Hlavackova and Hradecka were a point away from the finals in Rio when Hlavackova was hit at net, causing an eye injury that affected them not only as their lead slipped away in the semifinals against eventual Silver medalists Martina Hingis and Timea Bacsinszky, but also in the ensuing Bronze medal match later.

But Hlavackova spoke of her full recovery to wtatennis.com, and the pair faced few problems against Allertova and Friedsam on Thursday, breaking serve four times to take the match in 55 minutes.

“I feel 100%, and I’m very happy about it,” she said. “I’ve been practicing at 100% for the last six days. I’m very happy we had the latest possible start to gain that extra day, and I’m happy things are going in the right direction.

“I’ve had some rough days, but it’s not a pain where you can’t do anything. It’s quite fine for what it is, and I’m very happy that I can be here.”

Defeating Venus and Serena Williams en route to the title in 2013, the Czechs employed their signature aggression to book a second round encounter with Mirjana Lucic-Baroni and Maria Sanchez, who defeated Belinda Bencic and kirsten Flipkens, 6-4, 6-4.

“We started very good in the beginning of each sets, playing aggressive and trying to move towards the net.” Hradecka said. “It worked!”

Hlavackova and Hradecka reunited at the end of the 2014 season after nearly 10 months apart; a strong season helped them qualify for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, where they reached the semifinals. They took that momentum into the Australian Open in January, falling in the championship match to then Co-No.1s Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza. With Hingis and new partner CoCo Vandeweghe in their quarter of the draw, Hlavackova and Hradecka have good memories from being previous champions, and are hoping for one more strong result to end the year.

“It’s a very nice feeling to be here, of course,” Hlavackova said. “It’s been a while since the year we won, but every Grand Slam is special and this is the last one of the season. That’s a big motivation and we’ll try to do our best.”

Hingis and Vandeweghe recovered from a one-set deficit to defeat former No.1 Kveta Peschke and Anna-Lena Groenefeld, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. No.3 seeds Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova also advanced with a 6-3, 6-0 win over American wildcards Catherine Bellis and Julia Boserup.