No. 2-ranked Simona Halep lost her opening match at the Wuhan Open, dismantled by Daria Kasatkina 6-2, 6-1 on Tuesday.
Halep received a bye into the second round. She broke Kasatkina early but the Russian dominated thereafter.
It was Kasatkina's third win over a top-five player, after two wins over then-No. 1 Angelique Kerber this year.
"The game was much more difficult than the score is," Kasatkina said.
Halep had a chance this week to supplant Garbine Muguruza as No. 1 by reaching the final with other results going her way.
No. 4 Karolina Pliskova kept alive her shot at No. 1 by beating local favourite Shuai Zhang 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. To regain the No. 1 ranking, Pliskova must win the Wuhan title and hope Muguruza loses before the semifinals.
"I always want to play better than I did last year; I already won one round so hopefully I can win one more," Pliskova said.
Another Russian, two-time major champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, lost to Alize Cornet of France 6-3, 6-3.
Three other seeds advanced: No. 7 and 2016 finalist Dominika Cibulkova, No. 8 Jelena Ostapenko, and No. 9 Agnieszka Radwanska.
Ostapenko came back to beat Barbora Strycova 2-6, 7-5, 6-3, and Radwanska saw off Julia Goerges of Germany 7-5, 7-5.
Ekaterina Makarova of Russia, Caroline Garcia of France, Wang Qiang of China, and Varvara Lepchenko of the US were also winners on Tuesday.
On Monday, Johanna Konta crashed out, joining an exodus of top seeds including US Open finalists Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys after a shock-prone beginning to the Chinese tournament.
Konta failed to get on the scoreboard against Australia's Ashleigh Barty in the first set but appeared to be staging a comeback when she led 3-1 in the third.
The 26-year-old Brit, who went out in the first round at Flushing Meadows, served for the match but eventually succumbed 6-0, 4-6, 7-6 to Barty, ranked 37 in the world.
Konta was also joined by reigning-champion Petra Kvitova in an unexpected early exit, with the Czech number 11 seed losing to China's Shuai Peng 7-6, 6-7, 7-6 after a thrilling three-and-a-half-hour, three-set epic.
Source: Khaleej Times
GMT 19:47 2018 Sunday ,21 January
Fleetwood retains Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship titleGMT 18:53 2017 Thursday ,23 November
Kubica knocking on the doors againGMT 18:43 2017 Thursday ,23 November
Wolff can breathe a bit easy this timeGMT 17:56 2017 Thursday ,23 November
Ricciardo hopes to sign off on a high note in Abu DhabiGMT 17:52 2017 Thursday ,23 November
Verstappen all fired up for Abu Dhabi Grand PrixMaintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©
Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©
Send your comments
Your comment as a visitor