Fran Jones, the British No. 4, was seeded 7th at the WTA 250 Guangzhou Open but suffered an early defeat to wild card Wang Xiyu, losing 6-4 6-4 to the Chinese on Monday in the first round.
While Jones held the highest rank at 85th, Wang, ranked 145th, entered the competition with a slight advantage, following a disappointing year at the tour level with strong results in ITF tournaments and securing a main draw victory during the Asian swing.
Wang won Guangzhou in 2023 and reached the quarter-finals here last year, so she had a lot at stake, playing in front of her home fans, but Jones, nonetheless, was the slight favorite going into the match.
The Briton had good runs until the quarter-finals in Guadalajara and the semi-finals in São Paulo in September, then took a break before resuming the tour in China.
It was, however, former champion Wang who defeated Jones in his first match in Guangzhou after an hour and 58 minutes of play in what proved to be a fairly close contest.
Wang advances to meet Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto, who took the scenic route before stopping Diane Parry’s comeback attempt, and improve to 2-1 on aggregate against the Frenchwoman after triumphing in a see-saw encounter 6-4 6-7(7) 6-2.
Cocciaretto led by a set and 4-0, and held 5 match points in the second set, two at 5-4 and three in the tie-break, before crossing the finish line in a decider.
Qualifier Lulu Sun defeated top seed Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in straight sets to advance to the 2nd round in Guangzhou.
WTAtennis.com
Qualifier Lulu Sun of New Zealand defeated top seed Jessica Bouzas Maneiro of Spain, 7-6(3) 7-6(2), to also advance to the 2nd round, firing 8 aces and capitalizing on the 9 double faults produced by the Spaniard, who also faced 15 break points.
Sun came back from 2-4 in the first set, and 0-3 in the second, to edge the No. 1 seed in 2 deciding sets, registering her 4th upset against a No. 1 seed in her last 4 tournaments, having also beaten Alexandra Eala at Jingshan WTA 125, Iva Jovic at Suzhou WTA 125 and Anastasia Zakharova at Jinan WTA 125 over the past month.
Another qualifier, Frenchwoman Tiansoa Sarah Rakotomanga Rajaonah, also created a surprise by beating number 8 seed, Russian Polina Kudermetova, 1-6 6-1 6-2.
The Frenchwoman faces the American Katie Volynets, who survived the Polish Katarzyna Kawa, 4-6 6-2 6-2, in a 100% qualifying meeting.
The American Ann Li, seeded number 2, had to come back in both sets against the lucky Andorran loser, Jimenez Kasintseva, to win 6-4 7-6(4).
Li came back from 1-3 down in the first set and 2-5 down in the second, where she also saved 2 set points while trailing, 5-4.
The American will next meet Colombian Camila Osorio, who easily beat Italian Lucia Bronzetti 6-1, 6-2.
No. 6 seed and 2018 finalist Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan held off former junior No. 1 Alina Korneeva, an 18-year-old Russian qualifier, 7-6(2) 4-6 6-4.
Putintseva led 4-0 in the first set, but had to save a set point before sealing it in the break, while Korneeva also made a charge from 0-3 to 4-4 in the third set.
Her next opponent, German Ella Seidel, lost only 4 matches against Leolia Jeanjean, winning 6-2 6-2 and avenging her defeat against the Frenchwoman during qualifying for the Australian Open in January.
Hungarian Anna Bondar also qualified, edging wild card Guo Hanyu in the third set tiebreak, 6-3 3-6 7-6(4), after trailing 1-3 in the decider, and she will now face American qualifier Claire Liu, who beat No. 4 seed Alexandra Eala of the Philippines, 2-6 6-4 6-4, her first victory at circuit level in 19 months.
Liu came back from 2-4 down in the second set and 1-3 down in the third to claim the victory, which was her first at tour level since Miami 2024.
The former No. 52 ended her 2024 season after Roland Garros due to injury, and is now ranked No. 305.
Another American, Caty McNally, battled back to three sets against qualifier Kaja Juvan, 6-3 1-6 6-3, claiming her first win over the Slovenian in 3 meetings and setting up a 2nd round meeting with Ajla Tomjlanovic, after the Australian beat fifth seed Alicia Parks, also of the United States, 7-5 7-5.
Also advancing to the second round on Tuesday was wild card Zhang Shuai, who reprized her loss to Anastasia Zakharova in Beijing 5 weeks ago with another win over the Russian, 6-4 6-1.
