Australian wild card Samantha Stosur withstood high temperatures and overpowered Czech qualifier Tereza Martincova 6-2, 6-4 in first-round action Monday at the Guangzhou Open in China.
The 35-year-old Stosur broke serve to love in the opening game and rarely faltered during the 78-minute match, winning 89 percent of her first-service points. She next faces Bernarda Pera, a 6-4, 6-3 upset winner against No. 8 seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia.
Serbia's Aleksandra Krunic eliminated No. 7 seed Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus 6-4, 6-2 and Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland defeated China's Wang Xiyu 6-3 6-3. Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic had a tougher time against China's Xun Fang-Ying, saving four straight match points in a deciding tiebreaker before claiming the 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (6) win.
Toray Pan Pacific Open
Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova coasted to a 6-3, 6-1 win against Dayana Yastremska in the opening round of play in Osaka, Japan.
The runner-up in this tournament in 2017, Pavlyuchenkova dispatched the 19-year-old Ukrainian in 57 minutes. Yastremska finished with just 10 winners and 23 unforced errors. Pavlyuchenkova will meet No. 2 seed Kiki Bertens in the second round.
Other early first-round winners were Kazakhstan's Zarina Diyas 6-0, 6-3 over Puerto Rico's Monica Puig and Bulgarian qualifier Viktoriya Tomova 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 over France's Alize Cornet.
KEB Hana Bank Korea Open
No. 2 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia opened the action in Seoul with a 6-4, 6-3 victory against Belgian qualifier Greet Minnen.
Alexandrova finished with a decisive 27-7 edge in winners and advanced to face Kristyna Pliskova of the Czech Republic, a 6-1, 6-4 winner over Korean wild card Choi Ji Hee.
Also moving on are China's Yafan Wang, Belgium's Ysaline Bonaventure and American Kristie Ahn.
--Field Level Media
