WUHAN: Katerina Siniakova beat a top-20 player for the sixth time this year when she ousted Kristina Mladenovic of France 6-3, 6-2 in the first round of the Wuhan Open on Sunday.
The Czech, who has two singles titles already this year, deepened the hole occupied by Mladenovic. It was her eighth straight loss, all to players ranked outside the WTA top 25.
Ekaterina Makarova of Russia won nine games in a row from 4-1 down on her way to beating Anastasija Sevastova 6-4, 6-2.
Also, Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine defeated Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-3, 7-6 (12) to line up top-ranked Garbine Muguruza in the next round.
Muguruza, second-seeded Simona Halep and the other top six seeds received byes into the second round.
Sloane Stephens will take on Wang Qiang of China in the first round in her first competitive match since winning the U.S. Open. Stephens, seeded 14th in Wuhan, arrived on Friday and is expected to play her opening match on Monday. Madison Keys, who lost to Stephens in the all-American final in New York, will face qualifier Varvara Lepchenko in her opener.
The 16th-seeded Elena Vesnina beat Duan Yingying of China 6-3, 6-4.
Other winners included Ashleigh Barty, Monica Puig, Sorana Cirstea and Christina McHale.