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It was the first time two South Koreans won
their opening matches in Seoul since 2013.
For Jang, ranked No. 162 in the world, the win over Kenin was
her first career victory over a Top 30 opponent.
Back, ranked No. 569, was able to force Ostapenko into long
rallies, and the mistakes piled up for Ostapenko. She finished
with 68 unforced errors compared to 43 winners.
Top-seeded Jessica Pegula avoided the upset bug, beating
Viktoria Hruncakova of Slovakia 6-2, 6-4. No. 4 seed Marie
Bouzkova of the Czech Republic also advanced in the WTA 250
event.
Zhengzhou Open
Vera Zvonareva achieved her first Top 20 win since 2021 with a
6-2, 7-6 (5) victory over ninth-seeded Veronika Kudermetova in
China.
The 39-year-old Zvonareva, the one-time World No. 2, is still
working her way back from a foot injury that kept her out of
action from March 2022 until February.
In other first-round action, Liudmila Samsonova of Russia, fresh
off her finals appearance in the China Open, continued her
strong play with a 6-3, 6-3 defeat of Germany's Tatjana Maria.
Also advancing at the WTA 500 tournament were No. 8 seed Daria
Kasatkina of Russia, Petra Martic of Croatia, Laura Siegemund of
Germany and Zhuoxuan Bai of China.
Hong Kong Open
Canadian Leylah Fernandez advanced to the second round when
top-seed Victoria Azarenka retired.
Their match was knotted at one set each when the Belarussian
called it a day after appearing to hurt her left leg. Fernandez
took a 2-6, 6-3 walkover win.
Also advancing at the WTA 250 event were No. 5 seed Anna
Blinkova and fellow Russians Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Mirra
Andreeva of Russia, as well as No. 6 seed Martina Trevisan of
Italy.
Another Russian, Kamilla Rakhimova, beat eighth seed Varvara
Gracheva of France 6-3, 6-2, and Czech Linda Fruhvirtova topped
seventh-seeded Peyton Stearns in three sets.
--Field Level Media
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