First round action continued on day two in Kuala Lumpur. Roberta Vinci was made to bow out of the tournament in a shock defeat to 153rd ranked Chang Kai-Chen. Joining her on the way out were also fourth seed Annika Beck and eighth seed Saisai Zheng. Elina Svitolina, however was unscathed as she raced to the second round.
Vinci Runs Out Of Steam
On paper, it looked to be an easy win for the world number 10. Kai-Chen, however, had other ideas. A cagey first set went the way of the Italian who edged 7-5. That long first set plus playing almost every other week this season seemed to take a toll on Vinci as Kai-Chen pounced to take the second set 6-2 in quick fashion. The Chinese Taipei player punished Vinci whenever she hit a second serve as the Italian won zero points off her second serve.
Momentum had swung the way of Kai-Chen as the deciding set unfolded in a similar fashion to the second set, with Vinci struggling to hold on to her serve. 153rd ranked Kai-Chen overpowered the Italian to seal an impressive 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 victory, for her first main draw win of the year.
Second Seed Svitolina Wastes No Time
After a strong showing in Dubai where she reached the semifinals with Justine Henin on her side, Svitolina fell short at Doha losing in the first round. She took the Kuala Lumpur wildcard and progressed to the second round with ease. The Ukrainian barely broke any sweat winning her first round match against Miyu Kato 6-1, 6-1 in a mere 47 minutes.
Beck Falls To Diyas
German Beck had a great run in the Australian Open where she lost to eventual winner Angelique Kerber in the fourth round. Following that she had won just one other match prior to the contest with Zarina Diyas. Diyas was trailing 1-4 at one point in the first set before she clawed back to level the set at 5-5. Beck had to hold her service game to bring it to a tiebreak but Diyas with the pressure went on to grab the first set 7-5. The German continued fighting in the second set but the match went the way of Diyas, who closed it out on her third match point for a convincing 7-5, 6-3 victory.
Zheng Loses Out In An All Chinese Tussle
Zheng was fresh out of a quarterfinal run in the Qatar Total Open with a win over the reigning Australian Open champion to boot. In an all Chinese affair, Zheng looked to add on to her 2-0 head to head record she has against the qualifier, Zhaoxuan Yang. Zheng took the first set 6-4 dropping her serve just once. In the second set, it was a longer affair with two marathon games played out and Yang eventually won the set to level the match one set apiece. Zheng's serve let her down as she went on to lose her serve thrice allowing 176th ranked Yang to advance to the second round in a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win.
Other Results
Naomi Broady backed up her good start to the year emerging tops in a three sets match-up against Klara Koukalava. The Czech fought hard to take the second set to level the score but was always overpowered by Broady, who ultimately won the match 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in under two hours.
It was a bad day at the office for the Germans as Laura Siegemund was handed defeat by the lower ranked Cagla Buyukakcay. The Turkish player who had a decent run at Doha, topped Siegemund 7-5, 6-1.
Qualifers Lin Zhu and Risa Ozaki both recorded straight sets victories over their higher ranked opponents. Lin defeated Alexandra Panova 6-4, 6-4 while Ozaki brushed aside Elizaveta Kulichkova with 6-0, 6-2 win.
Day Three Matches
With just four seeds left in the draw, day three sees three of them in the lineup. Su-Wei Hsieh takes on Kristina Kucova first on centre court. Sixth seed Eugenie Bouchard then follows in a meeting with Kurumi Nara. Wildcard Sabine Lisicki sets up a clash with qualifer Barbora Krejcikova in the evening match. The only non-seeded affair sees another all Chinese contest between Ying-Ying Duan and Qiang Wang.