Former Grand Slam champions Angelique Kerber and Caroline Wozniacki were upset Monday in the first round of the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan (China) Open.
Taiwan’s Su-wei Hsieh, who is ranked 32nd in the world, got past 13th-seeded Dane Wozniacki 6-7 (2), 6-1, 6-2. Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig, rated 71st, knocked off 11th-seeded German Kerber 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-1.
Hsieh’s next opponent will be another major title winner, Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova, who advanced when Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva retired because of a left ankle injury while trailing 6-1, 1-0.
Other first-round winners included fifth-seeded Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, ninth-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus and 15th-seeded Sofia Kenin of the United States. Christina McHale of the United States upset 14th-seeded Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, and Ons Jabeur of Tunisia stopped 16th-seeded Donna Vekic of Croatia 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Tashkent Open
Fourth-seeded Jelena Ostapenko was one game from losing when she retired due to illness in the first round at Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Ukraine’s Katarina Zavatska led 6-3, 5-4 when Ostapenko was forced to stop.
Top-seeded Viktoria Kuzmova of Slovakia defeated the United States’ Francesca Di Lorenzo 7-6 (3), 6-3, and third-seeded Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium routed Russia’s Liudmilla Samsonova 6-0, 6-1.
Eighth-seeded Sorana Cirstea of Romania beat the Czech Republic’s Denisa Allertova 6-1, 6-4, but ninth-seeded Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine fell to Belgium’s Greet Minnen 6-2, 6-2.
–Field Level Media