WThe second day of play at the Wuhan Open saw the completion of the first round as well as two second round matches. 2018 champion Aryna Sabalenka and two-time winner Petra Kvitova were the first to book their spots in the last 16 after wrapping up play on Monday.
Kvitova, Sabalenka progress to round three in different fashion
Coming off of a dominant victory over Aliaksandra Sasnovich in which she only lost three games, Sabalenka was in even more ruthless form as she hammered Danielle Collins 6-1, 6-0 in just 53 minutes. The Belarusian fired seven aces and broke the American's serve six times en route to the third round.
Kvitova had a harder time with Polona Hercog, picking up a 7-6 (6), 6-3 that was as close as the score would indicate. Overcoming seven double faults by getting in 75 percent of her first serves, the Czech, champion in 2014 and 2016, moves into round three and awaits the winner of the match between Yafan Wang and tenth seed Sloane Stephens.
Kenin, McHale, Riske, Anisimova among Americans moving on
It was a very successful day for the Americans, winning four of their five matches. The biggest surprise was qualifier Christina McHale rallying from a set down to stun 14th seed Anastasija Sevastova 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. Also coming through was Alison Riske, who overcame Kateryna Kozlova by the same 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 scoreline.
15th seed Sofia Kenin continues her fine form as she beat Osaka finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 7-6 (5) after falling behind a break in the second set. Amanda Anisimova rounded out the quartet of US women to advance with a hard-fought 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Samantha Stosur, the 17-year old playing in her first event since the death of her father.
Wozniacki, Kerber bounced
Among the seeded players to lose was 10th seed Caroline Wozniacki and 11th seed Angelique Kerber. The Danr fell to Hsieh Su-wei 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-2 as the Taiwanese rallied from 5-1 down in the first set to nearly win it and ran off nine straight games from 1-1 in the second set to 4-0 in the third to coast to the third round.
Kerber played the longest match of the tournament, two hours and 49 minutes against Monica Puig with the Puerto Rican building a set and break lead. Serving for the match, Kerber responded to break and subsequently take the set. Puig bounced back to dominate the final set to claim a 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-1 win behind 58 winners and 26/32 at net.
Rest of the results
Elsewhere, there were a pair of retirements: Yulia Putintseva quit down 6-1, 1-0 to Svetlana Kuznetsova and Camila Giorgi pulled out down a set to Rebecca Peterson. Lucky loser Ons Jabeur took advantage of Victoria Azarenka's withdrawl to upset 16th seed Donna Vekic 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Veronika Kudermetova was victorious over countrywoman Ekaterina Alexandrova 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 while Petra Martic continued her fine 2019 with a dominant 6-2, 6-2 victory over Kristina Mladenovic.
Finally, Garbine Muguruza dashed home hopes with a 6-3, 6-2 triumph over Shuai Peng, Elise Mertens cruised past Katerina Siniakova 6-4, 6-0 and Marie Bouzkova had an easy time with Tamara Zidansek, winning 6-1, 6-3. Lauren Davis was the only American to lose, retiring down 4-0 in the deciding set to Yafan Wang.