The opening round is complete at the OEC Taipei WTA Challenger. It is the second to last stop of the 2015 WTA Tour. The draw is led by Japan's Misaki Doi and Hua Hin champion Yaroslava Shvedova. Defending champion Vitalia Diatchenko decided not to compete in the tournament.

Top Seed Doi Wins

Top Seed Misaki Doi won her first match since taking her maiden WTA title at the Luxembourg Open in October over fellow Japanese Risa Ozaki in straight sets. There were no difficulties for Japan's number one player who allowed just one break of serve in the second set to Ozaki after saving all four break points in the first in a 6-3, 7-5 victory. Doi’s opponent in the second round will be China's Ling Zhang. Zhang won her opener in a three-set victory over Taiwanese Wild Card Chieh-Yu Hsu. Doi and Zheng met for the first and only time in this same tournament in the first round in 2014. Doi prevailed in three sets.

Date-Krumm Springs Upsets Of Tig

In the only upset of the opening round, Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm knocked out sixth seed Patricia Maria Tig in a three-set clash. After losing the first set 7-5, the Romanian sixth seed immediately reacted and took the second easily, 6-1. A single break point was fatal to her in the third set though as Date-Krumm closed her out 6-3. Date-Krumm’s second round opponent is Chang Liu who won her first round match against Ankita Raina in straight sets.

Seeds Advance In Bottom Of Tapei Draw

The results in the bottom half of the draw went according to seed with all the seeded players easily advancing to the second round with straight set victories. France's Amandine Hesse closed the final set of her first round match 6-0 against Hiroko Kuwata as she survived the battle 7-5, 4-6, 6-0. She meets second seed Yaroslava Shvedova in the second round. Shvedova served her way past Russian Marina Melnikova with a clear 6-4, 6-2 result. It is the sixth victory in a row for Kazakhstan's number two ranked player after winning last week’s title in Hua Hin. Shvedova and Hesse's only previous meeting came at 2015 U.S. Open. Shvedova won easily in straight sets.

Fourth seed Tímea Babos didn't concede a single chance to break to qualifier Tena Lukas. The Hungarian managed to convert just two break points out of ten, but it was enough to take the match in straights sets 7-5, 6-3. She will face Elise Mertens in second round. Fifth seed Kirsten Flipkens won her opener 6-3, 6-3 over 15-year-old I-Hsuan Cho. Seventh seed Stefanie Voegele got dragged to a first set tie-break by Taiwan's Ya-Hsuan Lee. Voegele only needed a single break point to take the second set 6-4 to complete her victory in the match. She will meet Maria Sakkari in second round.

Other First Round Results

Third Seed Evgeniya Rodina escaped a first set tie-break against Jia-Jing Lu to easily take the second set 6-3. That sets up a second round clash for her against Yuxuan Zhang who ousted Japan's Junri Namigata 6-0, 6-3. It will be their first career meeting. Thailand's number one ranked player Luksita Kumkhum and 8th seed Yafan Wang both worked their way to the second round. Kumkhum scored a comeback victory against wild card Chieh-Yu Hsu. She lost the first set 7-5 but rallied to win the next two by identical 6-2 score lines. Wang survived the attempted comeback of Japanese qualifier Kotomi Takahata 6-2, 3-6, 6-2. Kumkhum and Wang will meet each other for the fifh time with the head-to-head record tied at 2-2. Their last meeting was won by Wang in the first round of the 2015 Australian Open.