The first day of the Tianjin Open has produced mixed results for seeded players as Elina Svitlolina and home favourite Zheng Saisai made a shock exit from the competition.
Fourth seed Elina Svitolina has crashed out in the first round of the to world No.115 Elena Vesnina 6-2, 6-4.
During her first round encounter, the world No.21 dropped her serve four times compared to her Russian rival who only dropped hers once. In both sets Svitolina lost her serves towards the business end as Vesnina grabbed a crucial win for her.
The surprise win over Svitolina is Vesnina’s third win since Wimbledon as she rapidly falls down the rankings. The Russian hasn’t won back-to-back matches in a tournament since the French Open last May.
Svitolina wasn’t the only seeded player to lose on the first day of the competition. 8th seed Saisai Zheng suffered a 7-5, 6-3, loss to Evgeniya Rodina. The 21-year-old is ranked 19 places above her Russian opponent and the closeness between the two in the rankings was displayed throughout the match. Saisai had opportunities in both sets, but failed to capitalize on them. In the first set she broke to move ahead before dropping her serve in the following game and during the second she was one point away from levelling the set at 4-4 before Rodina battled back to break for a 5-3 lead.
French 5th seed Kristina Mladenovic didn’t experience any difficulty in her match as she dropped just one game against China’s Liu Fangzhou 6-0, 6-1. Mladenovic is still on the hunt for her maiden WTA title. Brazilian sixth seed Teliana Pereira endured a roller-coaster opening set against Japan’s Nao Hibino as she took the win 7-5, 6-2.
Finally, defending champion and 7th seed Alison Riske was in impressive form as she beat Han Xinyun 6-0, 6-4. During the 65-minute match, Riske faced only two-break points, saving both of them. Her triumph at the tournament last year is currently Riske’s only title on the WTA Tour.
