Qualifier Lee Ya-hsuan advanced to the second round of the Hong Kong Open yesterday, while fellow Taiwanese Chang Kai-chen crashed out to Russian lucky loser Anastasiya Komardina.
Lee took just 62 minutes to defeat fellow qualifier Jang Su-jeong of South Korea 6-3, 6-1 and set up a second-round clash with either Heather Watson of Britain or Zhang Kailin of China.
Komardina beat Chang 6-4, 7-5, winning the final seven games as she recovered from 5-0 down in the second set.
Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig also advanced by beating Luksika Kumkhum of Thailand 6-1, 6-2.
Puig was ranked No. 41 last year, but has since dropped to No. 92.
“I had a very difficult year and changed my coach after Wimbledon, and it has suddenly made a huge difference in my game,” the 22-year-old said. “I have started to become more consistent result-wise and win more matches.”
Several top players have withdrawn from the Hong Kong Open because of injury, including world No. 4 Garbine Muguruza.
Lara Arruabarrena of Spain also advanced at Victoria Park, beating Irina Falconi of the US 6-4, 6-3.
In yesterday’s other first-round matches, Yaroslava Shvedova defeated Jarmila Gajdosova 6-4, 6-4 and Anastasia Rodionova beat qualifier Irina Ramialison 6-4, 7-5.
Lee also advanced to the quarter-finals of the doubles, seeing off Lauren Davis of the US and Kurumi Nara of Japan 6-4, 6-3 alongside fellow Taiwanese Chan Chin-wei.
Taiwan’s Chuang Chia-jung and Kumkhum Also advanced to the quarter-finals after they defeated Hong Kong wild-cards Sher Chun-wing and Wu Ho Ching 6-3, 6-3.
Additional reporting by staff writer
TIANJIN OPEN
Elina Svitolina crashed out of the Tianjin Open in the first round yesterday, continuing a poor run for the Ukrainian who dropped out of the world top 20 this week.
Svitolina, who reached a career-high ranking of 15 after making it to the semi-finals in Cincinnati in August, lost to world No. 115 Elena Vesnina of Russia 6-2, 6-4.
At last week’s China Open in Beijing, Svitolina fell in the second round to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
China’s top player and home-crowd favorite Zheng Saisai, seeded eighth, also lost in two sets to unseeded Russian Evgeniya Rodina 7-5, 6-3.
Fifth seed Kristina Mladenovic took just 46 minutes to down Liu Fangzhou of China 6-0, 6-1.
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