Simona Halep books place in third round of Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open

26 September 2016 03:08

Simona Halep booked her place in the third round of the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open after her compatriot Irina-Camelia Begu was forced to retire.

The Romanian number four seed was on course for a second-round victory anyway as she was 6-2 2-0 to the good when Begu called time due to a back injury.

Halep said: "I feel sorry for her that she got injured. I know how it is and it's not easy.

"I think I played well from the beginning of the match. I feel great because I played a good tennis after two weeks off, and also after an injury."

Fifth seed Karolina Pliskova also made it into the third round with a 6-3 7-5 success over Czech compatriot Lucie Safarova where she is joined by seventh seed Carla Suarez Navarro, who got the better of Yanina Wickmayer in a 6-4 6-3 win.

In the first round 2014 champion Petra Kvitova eased through with a 6-3 6-1 success over Jelena Ostapenko and she will now meet Elina Svitolina after the Ukrainian beat Bethanie Mattek-Sands 4-6 6-3 6-4.

Caroline Wozniacki returned to court just over 24 hours after winning the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo and continued her impressive form as she ousted 16th seed Sam Stosur 6-3 6-2

Dominika Cibulkova, seeded 10th, beat Alize Cornet 6-2 2-6 6-3 and 11th seed Johanna Konta thrashed Annika Beck 6-1 6-2.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was the highest seed of the day to fall after the 15th-ranked player was forced to retire when in a losing position to Japanese Misaki Doi.

There were several other retirements on a sweltering day in China as Heather Watson withdrew against Madison Brengle, while Yulina Putintseva progressed after Anastasija Sevastova pulled out.

Elsewhere, there were wins for Barbora Strycova, Jelena Jankovic, Kristina Mladenovic, Caroline Garcia, Daria Kasatkina and Shuai Zhang.

Fourth-seed Nao Hibino made safe progress into the second round of the Tashkent Open in Uzbekistan with a 6-3 6-1 win over Komola Umarova.

Kurumi Nara beat Dayana Yastremska 7-5 6-2, Denisa Allertova saw off Hiroko Kuwata 6-3 6-4, Maria Sakkari got the better of Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 2-6 6-3 6-4 and Stefanie Voegele was a 7-5 5-7 7-5 winner over Sabina Sharipova.

Source: PA