Two Chinese wild card players advance after first round

Of the eight Chinese women wild card players admitted to this year’s China Open tournament, two advanced into the second round: 20-year-old Sijia Wei, ranked No. 140 in the world, and familiar face and former World No. 2 Shuai Zhang.

Wei defeated No. 69 Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania 6-4, 7-6(6) on Thursday. In the two players’ first-ever matchup, Ruse’s serve proved detrimental, as she notched 10 double faults over the course of the match. Wei will aim to continue her Cinderella story against the No. 13 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil.

Zhang won her match against World No. 65 Mccartney Kessler of the United States 7-6(5), 7-6(1) on Wednesday. Although Zhang entered the match on a 24-match singles losing streak, she managed to get the better of Kessler using the vocal support of the crowd. Zhang will attempt to pull off a major upset in the second round against No. 6 seed American Emma Navarro.

The wild card players who fell in the first round:

- Meiling Wang lost to World No. 118 Jana Fett of Croatia 3-6, 4-6.

- Ye-Xin Ma lost to World No. 103 Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania 6-1, 4-6, 1-6.

- Yufei Ren lost to World No. 66 Nadia Podoroska of Argentina 4-6, 2-6.

- Han Shi lost to World No. 63 Moyuka Uchijima of Japan 3-6, 4-6.

- Xinyu Gao lost to World No. 31 Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain 7-6(4), 5-7, 5-7.

- Xinxin Yao lost to World No. 19 Cristina Busca of Spain 3-6, 2-6.

Two other Chinese players also exited the tournament on Thursday:

- World No. 58 Yafan Wang lost to No. 64 Ashlyn Krueger of the United States 6-3, 4-6, 2-6.

- World No. 95 Xiyu Wang lost to No. 96 Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland 6-7(5), 6-0, 3-6.

— Reporting by Reade Snelling