Italian fifth seed Francesca Schiavone and China’s Meng Yuan led the charge yesterday into the second round of the Bali Open.
Schiavone, who made a major impact the last time she played in Bali in 2005 when she reached the final before falling to Lindsay Davenport, enjoyed an easy return to the tropical island, crushing local hope Sandy Gumulya 6-2, 6-0.
Meng, who gets overshadowed by her more illustrious teammates Li Na and Peng Shuai, rallied from a set down to topple Kazakstan wildcard Yaroslava Shvedova 5-7, 6-2, 7-5.
Her reward is a second round encounter with Swiss veteran and second seed Patty Schnyder.
In another first round match, Poland’s Marta Domachowska ended the short-lived hopes of Indonesia’s Lavinia Tananta 6-2, 6-3.
Slovakia’s top seed Daniela Hantuchova received a bye into the second round and plays either Ukraine’s Olga Savchuk or Alla Kudryavtseva, the Russian who sensationally upset Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon.
Third seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy, hot off her first Grand Slam quarter-final at the US Open, gets her tournament underway today.
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