BEIJING, Sept. 30 -- Round of 32 action at the ongoing 2019 China Open saw most of the top seeds advance, but one major top-flight casualty.
World No. 3 Elina Svitolina was made to sweat but avenged her loss in Miami this year against China's Wang Yafan, needing two tiebreaks to move into the round of 16 with a straight-sets victory, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (1).
Wang broke her opponent to open up the initial set, fighting her to deuce relying on cross-court forehands to keep Svitolina out of her comfort zone.
It was a strategy that served the Chinese world No. 49 well in the first; she went on to break again and served for the set at 6-5 only to see Svitolina hold her to love and force the tiebreak.
The second set was a very similar story. The two players traded breaks at the outset but Wang fought to deuce and converted to go a break up at 4-1. But Svitolina bounced back, getting another break of her own to again force a tiebreak that she won with ease.
Svitolina faces the winner of tomorrow's round of 32 match between Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Sofia Kenin.
On the men's side World No. 6 Alexander Zverev had a much easier time against No. 46 Frances Tiafoe, winning in straight sets 6-3, 6-2.
Zverev relied on his powerful serves and aggressive play at the baseline, firing off 10 aces and only facing break point once, in the final game, on the way to the victory sealed in just over an hour.
The young US Open champion, World No.5 Bianca Andreescu sealed her first victory at China Open after second-set struggle, while Chinese player Zhang Zhizhen marked his first China Open win in men's singles to advance to the second round.
Canadian star Bianca Andreescu got her first China Open off to a winning start, taking down Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 and continuing her 14th win in a row since the Rogers Cup in August.
Up next for the 19-year-old will be her US Open quarterfinal rival Elise Mertens, who knocked out Croatian Petra Martic 6-2, 6-3.
"I was a little bit nervous before the match. I just tried to have the same mindset as I do in all of my matches. I wanted to just keep the momentum going. Hopefully I can just keep it up because I think it gives me a lot of confidence", she said.
Wildcard player Zhang notched triumph over World No. 34 Kyle Edmund of Britain 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (5) and became the second Chinese player to win a home game at China Open after Zhang Ze's win in 2017.
"I didn't think too much. It went very well in the first set," he said after the match. "Edmund did very well with his serve in the second set. I didn't have any breakpoints. The third set was tight, I tried to be more aggressive. Luckily I won the match."
Round of 32 action continues tomorrow.