WUHAN, China — Angelique Kerber survived a scare in her first match as world No. 1 while French Open champion Garbine Muguruza crashed out in Wuhan Tuesday.
The US and Australian Open champion, who had a bye in the first round, made a convincing start before missing two set points and allowing Kristina Mladenovic to take the first set in a tie break.
But the German then swept through the rest of the match, winning 6-7 (4-7), 6-1, 6-4 to set up a third-round meeting with two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova.
"I was trying to find my rhythm because I was not playing my best in the first set," top seed Kerber said after the match.
Meanwhile, Muguruza just couldn't master former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic, pushing her to a tie break in the second set but still coming up short at 6-4, 7-6 (7-2).
"I felt like I was in control of the match, but the last shot was not there. I made maybe too many mistakes against Jankovic," she told reporters.
The Spaniard bagged her first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros this year and rose to a career-high ranking of two, but the early round loss at Wuhan puts her qualification for the eight-player WTA Finals in Singapore in doubt.
Muguruza was the second seeded casualty of the day after last year's US Open finalist Roberta Vinci fell to Yaroslava Shvedova 7-5, 6-2 — her second defeat at the hands of the Kazakh this year.
Briton Johanna Konta had a tough battle to oust home crowd favorite Zhang Shuai in two sets, 6-3, 6-3, while world No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska romped into the third round when she downed Russia's Ekaterina Makarova.
Radwanska will next meet an in-form Caroline Wozniacki, who defeated qualifier Kateraina Siniakova 6-4, 6-4 Tuesday, in the third round of the $2.6 million hardcourt event.
The former world No. 1 beat Poland's Radwanska in the semifinals of last week's Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, en route to her first title of the year.
Seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams downed Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-2, and will next play fellow tour veteran 10th-ranked Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia. The pair have not met on court since 2009.
American Madison Brengle fell to Kuznetsova 6-0, 6-4 in the second round, as eighth seed Madison Keys beat Caroline Garcia 6-3, 6-4.
Former Wimbledon quarterfinalist Barbora Strycova downed Japan's Misaki Doi, while Daria Kasatkina of Russia beat fellow qualifier American Louisa Chirico.
Vesely through to 2nd round
In Shenzhen, China, Jiri Vesely served 13 aces to beat Pablo Andujar 6-2, 7-6 (8) and advance to the second round of the Shenzhen Open Tuesday.
Vesely lost just six points on his first serve in his first match since the US Open, where he withdrew with a left arm injury before his second round match against top-seeded Novak Djokovic.
Vesely next meets Inigo Cervantes of Spain, who defeated Akira Santillan of Japan 6-2, 7-6 (5).
American qualifier Ryan Harrison beat last year's runner-up Guillermo Garciz-Lopez 7-5, 6-4, while sixth-seeded Benoit Paire of France needed two hours to rally for a 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-3 victory over Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia.
Paire will now take on Janko Tipsarevic, who was a 7-6 (3), 6-4 winner against Chinese wild card Zhang Ze.
Malek Jaziri of Tunisia hit eight aces and broke three times in his 6-3, 7-6 (5) win over Stephane Robert of France.
In other first round matches, Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan came through to beat Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (4) and Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil breezed past Gastao Elias of Portugal 6-3, 6-3.
Khachanov fells Sousa
In Beijing, up-and-coming Russian Karen Khachanov felled 7th-seeded Joao Sousa of Portugal at the ATP Chengdu Open Tuesday to advance to the second round.
The 20-year-old, 1.98m (6'6") right-hander powered past Sousa 7-6(3), 6-3 in 77 minutes to face Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in the second round.
Thirty-year-old South African Kevin Anderson smoothly dispatched Jordan Thompson of Australia 6-2, 6-4. He will face Australia's Nick Kyrgios, the second seed and number 15 in the ATP rankings, in the next round.
Serbian Dusan Lajovic fought back from a dropped first set to beat Federico Del Bonis of Argentina 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.
In the second round he will face third seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, now ranked 21st in the world.
Former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus traded hard-fought sets with Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta when the match was suspended in the final set due to rain.
Flipkens advances
In Tashkent, second-seeded Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium saved 12 of 14 break points and beat Ana Bodgan of Romania 7-6 (7), 6-3 Tuesday in the first round of the Tashkent Open.
Flipkens is the highest ranked player in the tournament after top-seeded Johanna Larsson withdrew with an illness before main-draw play began.
The Belgian will face Greece's Maria Sakkari in the second round.
Third-seeded Cayla Buyukakcay of Turkey was eliminated in the first round, losing 6-1, 6-4 to lucky loser Sofia Shapatava of Georgia.
Former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone of Italy defeated seventh-seeded Sorana Cirstea of Romania 7-5, 6-2. Other first-round winners included Britain's Naomi Broady and Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko. — Agencies
