Chang Kai-chen’s luck finally ran out in Guangzhou yesterday when she lost to fellow Taiwanese Hsieh Su-wei to exit the tournament in the second round.
Chang, who got a berth in the first round of the tournament as a lucky loser, then advanced to the second round when top seed Marion Bartoli of France retired from their first-round match with a gastrointestinal illness.
However, her lucky streak ended yesterday when she was comprehensively beaten 6-0, 6-3 by world No. 53 Hsieh.
Following a rain break, Hsieh returned in the afternoon in the first round of the doubles with her partner and fellow Taiwanese Hsieh Shu-ying and they went on to defeat Thai pairing Luksika Kumkhum and Varatchaya Wongteanchai 4-6, 6-1, 12-10.
In other singles matches, Britain’s Laura Robson pulled off the shock of the day by knocking out Chinese second seed Zheng Jie 6-3, 6-3.
Zheng and Bartoli are the only seeds to fall so far, with the rest all comfortably negotiating the second round.
Third seed Sorana Cirstea of Romania defeated Chinese wild-card Duan Ying-ying 6-1, 7-6(7/0), while fourth seed Urszula Radwanska of Poland cruised past Luxembourg’s Mandy Minella 6-2, 6-3.
No. 5 Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa swept aside Serbia’s Bojana Jovanovski 6-4, 6-1, seventh seed Peng Shuai of China routed qualifier Nudnina Luangnam of Thailand 6-2, 6-1 and No. 8 Alize Cornet of France won the first set 6-4 before her opponent, Olga Govortsova of Belarus, retired, another victim of gastrointestinal illness.
In yesterday’s other match, France’s Mathilde Johansson battled past Chinese wild-card Zheng Saisai 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.
KOREA OPEN
Staff writer, with AP, SEOUL
A back injury forced former champion Maria Kirilenko of Russia to withdraw from her first-round match at the Korea Open yesterday.
Kirilenko, ranked 14th and seeded second, said she hurt her back in practice and aggravated it in her opening match, which lasted only two games, against South Korean wild-card Lee So-ra.
In the second round, third seed Kaia Kanepi of Estonia beat Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan 6-2, 6-2 and Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands overcame Silvia Soler-Espinosa of Spain 1-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-2.
In the doubles competition, third seeds Natalie Grandin of Russia and Vladimira Uhlirova of the Czech Republic knocked out Taiwan’s Chuang Chia-jung and Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm 6-2, 6-1.
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