Taiwanese qualifier Chang Kai-chen certainly rode her luck at the Guangzhou Open yesterday, grabbing a place in the first round as a lucky loser and then seeing her opponent, top seed Marion Bartoli of France, retire with a gastrointestinal illness when the Frenchwoman was 4-3 down in the first set.
That allowed Chang to advance to the second round, where she is set to face fellow Taiwanese Hsieh Su-wei, who defeated Nina Bratchikova of Russia 7-5, 6-3.
However, Chang’s good fortune did not rub off on fellow Taiwanese Chan Yung-jan, who retired from her match after feeling dizzy when 5-3 down to second seed Zheng Jie of China.
Eighth seed Alize Cornet had built a 6-3, 1-1 lead before Alexandra Panova stopped play because of a heat-related illness.
Mathilde Johansson of France upset sixth seed Monica Niculescu of Romanina 7-5, 6-2. The 27-year-old Johansson won despite 12 double-faults.
Third seed Sorana Cirstea of Romania defeated Chinese qualifier Hu Yue-yue 6-2, 7-5, despite dropping serve four times, while fourth seed Urszula Radwanska of Poland beat Melinda Czink of Hungary 7-6 (7-1), 6-2 and seventh seed Peng Shuai advanced with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-0 victory over Ayumi Morita.
Belarussian Olga Govortsova defeated qualifier Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan 7-5, 6-2; Nudnina Luangnam of Thailand beat Australia’s Jarmila Gajdosova 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-2; wild-card Zheng Saisai edged Julia Cohen of the US 7-6 (7/1), 7-5; and Thailand’s Luksika Kumkhum, who beat Chang in the final qualifying round on Monday, was beaten 6-2, 6-1 by Chinese wild-card Duan Ying-ying.
KOREA OPEN
Staff writer, with AP, SEOUL
Top seed Caroline Wozniacki reached the second round of the Korea Open by beating Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands 6-1, 6-2 yesterday.
Qualifier Jamie Hampton of the US also advanced, defeating Romina Oprandi of Switzerland 5-7, 6-3, 6-2, while Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain beat Sesil Karatantcheva of Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-4.
Third seed Kaia Kanepi of Estonia cruised past wild-card Han Sung-hee 6-1, 6-0, while fifth seed Julia Georges of Germany fell at the first hurdle, beaten 1-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 by Spain’s Silvia Soler-Espinosa.
Sixth seed Varvara Lepchenko of the US defeated Italy’s Camila Giorgi 6-2 7-6 (7/1), while No. 7 seed Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic had to work hard to dispose of Spain’s Garbine Muguruza 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(7/1) and eighth seed Ekaterina Makarova of Russia beat Polona Hercog of Slovenia 6-4, 6-1.
Veterans Kimiko Date-Krumm and Vania King both fell at the first hurdle, Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia defeating Japan’s Date-Krumm 6-4, 6-3, while Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands beat King of the US 6-3, 6-1.
Kazakhstan’s Galina Voskoboeva beat wild-card Hong Hyun-hui 6-1, 6-2, while qualifier Caroline Garcia of France advanced after defeating Romania’s Alexandra Cadantu 6-2, 6-3.
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