On a sunny day in Seoul, second seed Johanna Larsson was forced to fight back from a bagel down to join top seed Irina-Camelia Begu, who breezed through her match in the second round. Shuai Zhang seeded third, had to battle for two hours in her match before prevailing. Sixth seed Kirsten Flipkens was also made to work from a set down before eventually sealing the victory in three sets. The rest of the seeds posted straight sets victory concluding round one action.
Larsson survives scare
The Swedish player playing her second tournament in the Asian Swing got off to a slow start in a first set full of chances. Her opponent Grace Min took her chances while also fending off Larsson’s efforts to snatch the first set with a commanding 6-0 score line.
Larsson battled back in the second eventually finding a way to hold serve and convert on her break opportunities to force a third set. The 128th ranked American was broken twice early in the third set and failed to mount any kind of challenge as Larsson went on to record a 0-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory.
Flipkens battles back against Pliskova
Flipkens was off to a slow start trailing 0-4 to Kristyna Pliskova. The Czech had a chance to close it out at 5-3 but the Belgian found her rhythm and soon leveled for 5-5. However, Pliskova eventually found it in her, serving for the set for the third time, to seal the first set 7-5.
The second set was a lot tighter but the Czech could not recover from an early break down as Flipkens got herself back in the match. The sixth seed then held onto her lead in the third to see off Pliskova 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.
Zhang fends off Sakkari
The Chinese was up a set in her match but Maria Sakkari fought back to snatch the second set. The third set was a topsy-turvy affair with neither player able to hold on to the lead for long with the numerous exchange of breaks. Sakkari could not hold serve in the entire set and down 4-5, she could not muster a hold as Zhang eventually triumphed her opponent 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
Rest of the seeds progress in straight sets
The top seed, Begu, lost just three games in her match against wildcard Jang Su Jeong needing just slightly more than an hour to wrap up a 6-2, 6-1 win.
Likewise, Monica Niculescu, allowed Eri Hozumi to win only three games, dropping serve just once in her one-hour rout for a 6-3, 6-0 win.
Fourth seed Kristina Mladenovic kicked off her Asian swing against Luksika Kumkhum and wrapped up the first set with relative ease. In the second, she was made to work a lot harder but was able to hang on to close out a 6-2, 7-5 straight sets victory.
Other results
Bethanie Mattek-Sands, fresh from her doubles win at the US Open, had to fend off Stefanie Voegele to register a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 win.
Anna Karolina Schmiedlova recorded just a sixth win of the year cruising past qualifier Katarzyna Piter 6-3, 6-2.
Spain’s Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino sailed to the second round with a 6-2, 6-2 victory against Arantxa Rus.
Kateryna Kozlova rounded off day two action, defeating Tereza Martincova 6-2, 6-3 in an hour.