SHENZHEN, China, Jan.1 (Xinhua) -- Seeded players fared well at the start of 2017 WTA Shenzhen Open as both Monica Niculescu and Alison Riske found their way to the second round after beating two home players respectively.
The 7th seed, Romania's Niculescu bounced back from a 7-5 loss to home wild card Zhang Kailin in the first set and easily took two straight sets 6-1, 6-3 to book a spot in the last 16.
Last year's finalist Riske, seeded eighth, went through two tough tie-breakers to beat 23-year-old home player Zhu Lin 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5) in two hours and 11 minutes.
Wang Qiang, who ranked 72nd in the world, is the only Chinese singles player who claimed a victory on the first matchday. She knocked out Russia's Evgeniya Rodina in straight sets 6-2, 6-3 to set up a second round meeting with Niculescu.
"It was my debut of the year and I'm feeling really good today. I practiced on my serve at least one hour everyday during the winter training and it seemed to have some effect today because I delivered 5 Aces, " said the 24-year-old Wang.
Former world number one Jelena Jankovic of Serbia advanced to the doubles' second round with Katerina Siniakova from Czech Republic after beating Britain's Johanna Konta and Swiss player Timea Bacsinszky 7-6 (9-7), 6-3.
Shenzhen Open, inaugurated in 2016, has the highest prize money of any International tier events on the calendar, totaling 750,000 U.S. dollars.