The top half of the women’s draw at the China Open in Beijing was completed on Thursday, paving the way for the arrival of the 32 seeds in round 2 on Friday, who now know who their opening opponents are.
Britain’s Harriet Dart, though, fell in her opener to Clara Tauson from Denmark, 5-7 6-4 6-1, after leading by a set and 4-1, in the marathon battle that lasted nearly 3 hours.
At 5-5 in the first set, Dart fought to clinch the opener, and she looked to be well on her way to also claiming the second after going up by a break.
Tauson also looked close to throwing in the towel as she sought treatment for a lower back issue, but she rallied to pull off a great comeback, turning the match around and leveling at a set all.
The 10th game proved particularly excruciating for Dart, who missed 7 chances to break Tauson as she was serving for the set, and the Brit let out a frustrated scream before the Dane forced the third.
A lengthy off-court break did little to settle Dart’s focus, and she struggled to hold back the tears as the big-hitting World No 72 eased to victory, breaking the Brit 3 times and converting her first match point on her way to meeting Jasmine Paolini, the No 3 seed from Italy, next.
In turning the match around, Tauson had won 11 of the last 12 games.
Great Britain is still represented in the singles by Katie Boulter, seeded 26, who takes on American Taylor Townsend on Friday, but Emma Raducanu, the British No 2, had to pull out of the China Open with the foot injury she suffered in Seoul.
Karolina Muchova delivered a masterclass to race past Anna Blinkova into round 2 in Beijing on Thursday
© Emmanuel Wong/Getty Images
Karolina Muchova, a US Open semi-finalist, delivered a masterclass to race past Anna Blinkova from Russia, dropping just 2 games in the process, one in each set, to set up a meeting with Yuan Yue, the No 30 seed and one of a record 15 Chinese in the draw.
The whole affair lasted just 62 minutes.
It was a different scenario for Sara Sorribes Tormo, who had to stay on court for over 4 hours to get past another Chinese, wild-card Gao Xinyu, 6-7(4) 7-5 7-5.
This contest lasted 4 hours and 15 minutes, bumping Laura Siegemund’s effort just 8 days ago at Hua Hin where she took 4 hours and 9 minutes to defeat Wang Xiyu, also from China, in the 2nd-round to win the 4th longest match of Open Era.
Now, Spanish qualifier Sorribes Tormo, known for her marathon matches, has taken over the accolade.
The 27-year-old has featured in 4 of the 13 longest matches of the Open Era, but this is the first time she has broken the 4-hour mark.
She seemed to have escaped Gao as she built a 5-1 lead in the 3rd set, only for the World No 171 to start hitting out with bold first-strike power.
The Chinese saved 2 match points trailing 2-5, and leveled the match at 5-5, but she could not convert either of her 2 break points to go up 6-5, and Sorribes Tormo was able to close out the contest with consecutive winners, setting up a 2nd-round contest with Madison Keys, the 18th-seeded American.
22-year old Mananchaya Sawangkaew, beat fellow-qualifier Zarina Diyas in 63 minutes and faces top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka in round 2 in China
© Shi Tang/Getty Images
Meanwhile, in a battle of qualifiers, 22-year old Mananchaya Sawangkaew from Thailand delivered some exhibition tennis of her own as she defeated Kazakh Zarina Diyas, 6-2 6-3, in 63 minutes, to seal her first WTA main draw win.
Sawangkaew advances to meet World No 2 Aryna Sabalenka, the top seed from Belarus.
Switzerland’s Viktorija battled past another Chinese hopeful, using finesse and angles to outfox Wang Xiyu, 7-5(3) 0-6 6-3, and set up an encounter with Donna Vekic, the No 16 seed from Croatia.
Another Chinese, wild-card Ma Ye-Xin, was denied progress by Irina-Camelia Begu from Romania, who roared back from a 6-1, 4-2 deficit, winning 10 of the last 11 games to win, 1-6 6-4 6-1.
Begu moves on to play the 17th-seed, Mirra Andreeva, from Russia, in round 2.
American Ashlyn Krueger also came from a set down to get past Wang Yafan, also from China, 3-6 6-4 6-2, and will meet Lulu Sun, the 29th seed from New Zealand.
Lucky loser Kamilla Rakhimova faced Kimberly Birrell for a second time at the China Open, and beat her in straight sets on Thursday
© Lintao Zhang/Getty Images
On Tuesday, Kamilla Rakhimova was 6-5 up in the third set in the final qualifying round against Kimberly Birrell, just 3 points from sealing her place in the main draw of the China Open for the first time, but the Australian pipped her at the post, denying the Russian in a 4-6 6-2 7-6(2) heart-breaker.
Raducanu’s withdrawal opened up a lucky loser spot in the main draw, and it went to Rakhimova, where she faced Birrell again, and, on Thursday, she reversed their qualifying result, coming through 6-2 6-4 to book a 2nd-round clash with No 5 seed Zheng Qinwen, China’s No 1.
