On a day that saw numerous triumphs for the seeded players, Romanian world No.23 Irina-Camelia Begu got off to a winning start at the Korean Open by brushing aside Jang Su-jeong 6-2, 6-1, in the first round.
The top seed dropped her serve twice in the match, but she was still able to enjoy a one-sided victory against her less experienced rival in the 73-minute encounter at the Seoul Olympic Park Tennis Center. Tuesday’s win in Seoul is Begu’s first on the tour since she won the Florianopolis Open at the start of August. Since then, she has suffered four consecutive first round defeats.
Targeting her second WTA title of the season in South Korea, Begu will play Jana Cepelova in the second round. Cepelova, who is a former top 50 player, defeated home player Lee So-ra 6-3, 6-4, in her first match. The upcoming meeting will be the first clash between the two on the tour since the 2013 Cincinnati Open, when Cepelova won in straight sets during the qualifying tournament.
Second seed Johanna Larsson endured a tough opening match after suffering a first set whitewash against Grace Min. In what was a match of two halves, the Swede dropped the opening set in under 30 minutes before battling back to win 0-6, 6-2, 6-2.
Similar to Larsson, China’s Zhang Shuai was also pushed to her limits by Greece’s Maria Sakkari. Despite failing to hold her serve in four out of five service games in the final set, Shuai valiantly battled back to win 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
The third seed is expected to experience another tough meeting in the next round against Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who required almost two hours to see off Stefanie Voegele 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. The US Open mixed doubles champion was trailing by a break in the deciding set before battling her way back by winning four consecutive games.
Completing the quartet of victories for seeded players was France’s Kristina Mladenovic, who overcame Luksika Kumkhum 6-2, 7-5, in what was a testing match. After powering through the opening set, the fourth seed had to recover from two breaks down before breaking her opponent to love in the final game. Awaiting Mladenovic in the last sixteen will be Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo.
Mladenovic is yet to win a singles title on the WTA Tour.
