NANCHANG, China - No.2 seed Wang Qiang made a winning start to her effort at the Jiangxi Open on Monday, as she closed out singles play on Centre Court with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Indian No.1 Ankita Raina.
With over 100 places between the two players in the WTA rankings, Wang was nonetheless pushed over the course of 81 minutes despite dropping just three games.
Eight of the 15 games in the match went to decue, and the World No.78 held a total of 13 break points but only managed to convert five of them.
Wang struck 19 winners to 14 unforced errors with four aces in the match, as Raina only managed 14 winners to 27 unforced. India's No.1 had three chances to lead 2-0 in the second set - the lone break points she held in the match - but was unable to convert and proceeded to lose the next six games.
"Every player wants to get the best grade in the match, but for me, I want to show the level [of] my daily practices," Wang said after the match. "The most important thing is to improve myself and do my best."
Elsehwere in the first round, No.7 seed Duan Ying-ying was upset by Zhu Lin, 6-2, 6-3, while former World No.43 Margarita Gasparyan picked up her first WTA main draw victory in over two years.
The 23-year-old Russian missed over a year of action after three knee surgeries before returning to tennis in earnest in the fall, but scored her first WTA tournament match win against qualifier and former junior World No.1 Xu Shilin, 6-1, 6-4.
Fourth seed Kurumi Nara also fell at the first hurdle on Monday, falling to Lu Jing-jing 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, but eighth-seeded Han Xinyun defeated lucky loser Junri Namigata, 6-4, 6-0.
