Qinwen Zheng recorded her first tour-level win on home soil Monday with a 6-4, 6-3 defeat of Ukraine’s Kateryna Volodko in the opening round of the Zhengzhou Open in China.
Zheng, 21, struck 11 aces, lost one point (20 of 21) on her first serve and converted 5 of 12 break chances in the 1-hour, 24-minute match. She will face third-seeded Maria Sakkari of Greece in the second round.
No. 10 Donna Vekic of Croatia was the only seeded player in action at the WTA 500 event, defeating Japan’s Nao Hibino 6-4, 6-2 in 77 minutes. Also moving on to the second round were Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti and Jasmine Paolini and Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina and Lesia Tsurenko.
Hana Bank Korea Open
No. 3 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova saved 9 of 11 break points and defeated Japan’s Mai Hontama 6-3, 6-1 in the opening round of the WTA 250 event in Seoul.
No. 7 Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands also advanced with a 6-1, 6-3 victory against South Korea’s Na-Lae Han. Two seeded players suffered early exits, with No. 6 Alycia Parks losing 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 to Polina Kudermetova of Russia and No. 8 Katie Boulter of Great Britain falling 6-4, 6-4 to Slovenia’s Kaja Juvan.
Claire Liu, China’s Yue Yuan, Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer and Liechtenstein’s Kathinka von Deichmann also made it safely to the Round of 16.
