Kimiko Date-Krumm rolled back the years to thrash fellow Japanese Misaki Doi 6-4, 6-2 on Monday and reach the second round of the Japan Open.
The former world No. 4, who turns 45 this month, needed just 1 hour, 19 minutes to see off Doi in windy conditions in Tokyo, setting up a clash with Croatia’s Ajla Tomljanovic in the round-of-16.
Tomljanovic, the seventh seed, survived a scare to beat Hungary’s Timea Babos 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/2).
Third seed Madison Brengle safely advanced, overpowering Germany’s Anna-Lena Friedsam 6-3, 6-1, while fellow American Christina McHale, seeded sixth, beat Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva 6-3, 7-5.
Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer also made it into the round-of-16 with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Katerina Siniakova.
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei is due to open her singles campaign today against eighth seed Polona Hercog of Slovenia, while there are four Taiwanese competing in the first round of the doubles.
Taiwanese sisters Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan, the top seeds, are due to take on Date-Krumm and Jarmila Gajdosova of Australia, second-seeded cross-strait duo Chuang Chia-jung and Liang Chen face McHale and Tomljanovic, while Taiwanese-Croatian pairing Chan Chin-wei and Darija Jurak face a tough opener against third seeds Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Alicja Rosolska of Poland.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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