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The seventh-seeded Samsonova needed only 61
minutes to put away Maria and has now swept all 12 sets she has
played in the Japanese capital. She struck seven aces and saved
both break points she faced.
Also reaching the second round were Japanese qualifier Mai
Hontama, Spain's Cristina Bucsa, Ukraine's Anhelina Kalinina and
American Kayla Day.
No. 3 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan withdrew from the WTA
500 event due to an illness and was replaced by lucky loser
Himeno Sakatsume of Japan.
Ningbo Open
No. 2 seed Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic dropped four
straight games in the first set before settling down for a 7-6
(2), 6-1 first-round win against Germany's Anna-Lena Friedsam in
Ningbo, China.
Kvitova raced out to a 5-1 lead before Friedsam rallied to tie
the match and eventually force the tiebreak. Kvitova committed
eight double faults but successfully converted all seven of her
break chances.
No. 4 Anna Blinkova of Russia beat Slovakia's Viktoria
Hruncakova 6-3, 7-5 and No. 8 Lucia Bronzetti of Italy held off
Switzerland's Jil Teichmann 7-6 (6), 6-4. Russia's Vera
Zvonareva knocked out seventh-seeded Katie Boulter of England
6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (3).
--Field Level Media
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