WUHAN: Roberta Vinci downed Olympic gold medallist Monica Puig in the first round of the Wuhan Open on Sunday.

Italy’s Vinci took just one hour and 20 minutes to defeat the Puerto Rican in two sets, 6-3, 6-3.

Vinci served eight aces en route to the second round of the $2.6 million hard-court event.

American qualifier Louisa Chirico was handed a pass to the second round after US Open quarter finalist Timea Bacsinszky became ill and retired in the second set.

Teenager Belinda Bencic also pulled out in the second set with a lower back problem, allowing world number 10 Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia through to face either Briton Heather Watson or Madison Brengle of the US.

Lucie Safarova beat Vavara Lepchenko 7-5 6-3 while Ekaterina Makarova thrashed Sabine Lisicki 6-1 6-2.

There were also early first-round wins for Yaroslava Shv­e­dova, Yanina Wick­mayer, Laura Siegemund and Irina-Camelia Begu.

Published in Dawn September 26th, 2016