Top Seeds Progress to Round 2 in Hong Kong Open

Hong Kong—Tennis Open 2016

World No 1 Angelique Kerber of Germany hits a return to Maria Sakkari of Greece in their 1st round match at the Hong Kong Open 2016, at Victoria Park Stadium on Tuesday Oct 11. Kerber won 6/4, 6/4 to meet Louisa Chrico of USA in round 2. Bill Cox/Epoch Times

HONG KONG—The remaining games of round 1 of the Prudential Hong Kong Open Tennis Tournament were completed on Tuesday Oct 11 with many big names in action.

World No 1 Angelique Kerber (1) of Germany looked confident, delighting the Centre Court crowd in the early evening game with some fine shots against Maria Sakkari of Greece progressing to the 2nd round with a 6/4, 6/4 victory.  In the late evening match Johanna Konta (3) of Great Britain breezed through winning 6/2, 6/2 fellow country competitor Naomi Broady.

Earlier in the afternoon Caroline Wozniacki (5) of Australia playing Zheng Sasai of China took the first set 6/1 and led the 2nd set 5/1 but Zheng fought back. Zheng defended her service game and won a further 2 games using deep lob returns, leaving Wozniacki to do the attacking, before finishing off points with good drives, pushing the set score to 5-4. Zheng showing confidence took the first 2 points of the 10 game for 0-30 but Wozniacki steadied her game to take the match 6/1, 64.

Caroline Wazniacki of Denmark shakes hands with opponent Zheng Saisai of China at the end of their1st round match at the Hong Kong Open 2016, at Victoria Park Stadium on Tuesday Oct 11, 2016. Bill Cox/Epoch Times

Next on was Samantha Stosur (4) of Australia playing against Nao Hibino of Japan, but it was not Stosur’s day. The young 22 year old Hibino showed confidence, good shot selection and strong shot execution, while Stosur made a catalogue of important errors. The Japanese girl served well, hit good ground strokes, and made a number of crisp down the line and cross court winners to take the match 6/3, 6/4.

Nao Hibino of Japan playing against Samantha Stosur of Australia in their 1st round match at the Hong Kong Open 2016, at Victoria Park Stadium on Tuesday Oct 11, 2016. Hibino played solid tennis to defeat Stosur 6/3, 6/4. Bill Cox/Epoch Times

On Courts 1 and 2, defending champion Jelena Jankovic (7) of Serbia overcame Samantha Crawford of USA with a 6/3, 6/1, now meets fellow Serb qualifier Aleksandra Krunic in the 2nd round on Wednesday Oct 12. Krunic overcame another qualifier (Luksika Kumkhum) 6/1, 6/0 in round 1.

Caroline Garcia of France progressed by defeating Tereza Martincova of Czech Republic 6/3, 6/0. HeatherWatson of Great Britain overcame qualifier Marina Erakovic of New Zealand and Bathanie Mattek-Sands of USA beat wild card entry, Basak Eraydin of Turkey 6/1, 6/2.

Second round singles line-up

On Wednesday Oct 12: Jelena Jankovic (SRB) vs Aleksandra Krunic (SRB), Angelique Kerber (GER) vs Louisa Chirico (USA), and Alize Cornet (FRA) vs Venus Williams (USA), and Katerina Siniakova (CZE) vs Daria Gavrilova (AUS).

On Thursday Oct 13: Nao Hibino (JPN) vs K Mladenovic (FRA), Bathanie Mattek-Sands (USA) vs Caroline Garcia (FRA), Caroline Wazniacki vs Heather Watson (GBR), and Qiang Wang (CHN) vs Johanna Konta (GBR).