Tuesday was day two at the 2015 Tianjin Open as all of the top seeds began their quests for another title before conclusion of the 2015 season. The top three seeds Flavia Pennetta, Agnieszka Radwanska, and Karolina Pliskova were all looking to get off to a winning start, which would get them one step closer to qualifying for the 2015 WTA Finals, which will be contested later this month in Singapore. Radwanska and Pliskova survived the first hurdle, while US Open champion and top seed Flavia Pennetta was upset in straight sets by Ukrainian qualifier Lyudmyla Kichenok.
Agnieszka Radwanska has had a great Asian swing so far, which has included winning the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo and making the semi finals of the China Open in Beijing last week. The Polish number one and current world number six looks like her normal self again, after a tough start to the 2015 season. The second seed in Tianjin this week, the Pole began her campaign for a second title in 2015 in emphatic style, defeating qualifier Olga Savchuk 6-1, 6-0 in 53 minutes.
Third seed Karolina Pliskova returned to action after a disappointing last couple of months. After losing in the first round of the U.S. Open and the China Open, Pliskova was looking to start out on the right foot in Tianjin. Despite not being at her best, the third seeded Czech was able to use her big serve to get herself out of trouble, en route to powering to a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 win over Slovakia’s Kristina Kucova.
The biggest upset of the day, without a shadow of a doubt, was Lyudmyla Kichenok’s surprise win over top seed and US Open champion Flavia Pennetta. Kichenok, ranked 414 in the world, had to fight through three rounds of qualifying to even secure a spot in the main draw. The Ukrainian defeated Pennetta 6-3, 7-5, in what could be the Italian’s last singles match on the WTA tour. This was Kichenok’s biggest win, as well as her first win over a top 10 player. As for Pennetta, she still has hopes of qualifying for the WTA Finals in Singapore. However, she sits at 8th place on the Road to Singapore leaderboard, with a slim 20 point lead over Timea Bacsinszky, who sits at 9th place.
Other winners on day two included Tianjin’s very own Duan Ying-Ying, Danka Kovinic, Bojana Jovanovski, Urszula Radwanska and Timea Babos. Duan defeated qualifier Nicole Vaidisova 6-3, 6-3, while Kovinic easily dispatched Kateryna Bondarenko 6-4, 6-1. Jovanovski had to battle her way past WTA rising star Ons Jabeur 6-7(1), 7-6(4), 6-1, and Radwanska overcame qualifier Nadiia Kichenok 6-4, 6-0. The most one-sided match of the day was won by Timea Babos, who completely dominated Alla Kudryavsteva 6-0, 6-1.