Seeded players Naomi Broady and Risa Ozaki fell to unexpected defeats on the the opening day of the OEC Taipei WTA Challenger at the Taipei Arena yesterday.
British second seed Broady came unstuck against a familiar opponent in her first-round match, falling to a 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7/4) defeat to wild-card Vitalia Diatchenko.
The Russian world No. 553 saved one of four break points and converted two of four to edge the world No. 88 in 2 hours, 7 minutes, improving her career record over the Briton to 4-1 in the past seven years.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
Japanese fifth seed Ozaki also made an early exit from the WTA 125k tournament when she fell to a 6-1, 6-3 defeat to Olga Govortsova in just 61 minutes.
The Belarussian world No. 198 saved one of two break points and converted five of eight, winning 56 of the 89 points contested to improve her career record against the world No. 94 to 2-0 following a similarly one-sided 6-1, 6-0 victory at last year’s Australian Open.
Also heading for the exit on day 1 was Taiwanese wild-card Lee Ya-hsuan, who was overcome in a 7-6 (7/4), 6-1 defeat to Dalila Jakupovic in 1 hour, 21 minutes.
The Slovenian world No. 157 converted four of the 11 break points she created, winning 71 of 126 points to oust the world No. 326 and improve her career record against Lee to 2-0 after she also triumphed in their only previous encounter in Seoul last year.
In the other first-round match played yesterday, Miyu Kato emerged as the winner from an all-Japanese clash with Eri Hozumi 6-4, 7-6 (9/7) in 1 hour, 46 minutes.
The star attractions at the tournament which runs until Sunday are likely to be Taiwanese sisters Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan, who are the top seeds in the doubles and red-hot favorites to win the title on home soil.
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