BEIJING :Â Top seed and defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland scraped a hard-fought 6-2, 6-7(4), 7-5 victory against lower-ranked Ying-Ying Duan at the WTA Shenzhen Open on Monday to advance to the second round.
Radwanska, ranked third in the world, took nearly two and a half hours to overcome a stiff challenge from her 103rd-ranked Chinese opponent, winning fewer of her first service points but slamming down seven aces to Duan s four.
The Pole saved three match points in the third set on her way to claiming victory.
Second seed Simona Halep of Romania triumphed in a three-set thriller 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 over Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, formerly the world s top-ranked female player.
Halep bounced back after a second-set loss to win a place in the second round against Katerina Siniakova, who defeated hometown favourite Shuai Peng 6-3, 7-5.
Third seed Johanna Konta of Britain made a strong start to the tournament with a dominant 6-2, 6-0 performance over Caga Buyukakcay, taking less than an hour to defeat her Turkish opponent.
Konta enters 2017 as a top ten player for the first time in her career. She will face 27-year-old American veteran Vania King.
Fourth seed Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland pulled out of the tournament on Monday due to an abdominal injury.
