World No. 228 Himeno Sakatsume of Japan crushed fourth-seeded Sofia Kenin 6-2, 6-1 in 72 minutes on Tuesday in the first round of the Hong Kong Tennis Open.
Sakatsume converted seven of 14 break chances as Kenin won only 39% (15 of 38) of the points on her first serve. Sakatsume next faces Hong Kong wild card Eudice Chong, a 6-3, 6-4 winner over the Netherlands’ Suzan Lamens.
The other seeded players fared better. No. 1 Belinda Bencic of Switzerland defeated Russia’s Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-3, 6-4 and No. 2 Leylah Fernandez beat China’s Xiyu Wang 6-1, 6-4. No. 3 Victoria Mboko of Canada rallied for a 6-7 (2), 6-1, 6-4 win over Australia’s Talia Gibson. No. 6 Anna Kalinskaya of Russia, No. 7 Sorana Cirstea of Romania and No. 8 Emiliana Arango also advanced to the second round, as did China’s Shuai Zhang and Alexandra Eala of the Philippines.
Jiangxi Open
China’s Zhuoxuan Bai pulled off a 6-3, 6-1 first-round upset against top-seeded American Ann Li in Jiujiang, China.
Bai converted six of nine break opportunities in the 68-minute stunner to set up a second-round match against countrywoman Hanyu Guo.
No. 2 seed Viktorija Golubic defeated Japan’s Rina Saigo 6-2, 6-4 and No. 3 Alycia Parks was leading 6-3, 2-1 when China’s Lin Zhu retired. Italy’s Elisabetta Cocciaretto was up 6-2, 3-0 when No. 7 Camila Osorio of Colombia retired. Also advancing were Slovenia’s Kaja Juvan, Austria’s Lilli Tagger and Russians Elena Pridankina and Anna Blinkova.
Chennai Open
Rain from Cyclonic Storm Montha washed out a second straight day of action at the WTA 250 event in Chennai, India.
–Field Level Media
