WUHAN: Double Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and Briton Johanna Konta made convincing starts at the WTA Wuhan Open as the tournament was hit by a wave of retirements on Monday.

Three players quit mid-match, taking the tally to five in just two days at the Chinese tournament, which is also missing injured world number two Serena Williams.

Kvitova served six aces — mirrored by her teenage opponent’s six double faults — to sweep to a 6-3, 6-1 victory against Latvian Jelena Ostapenko.

Meanwhile, Konta eased past German Annika Beck 6-2, 6-1 to get her campaign off to a flying start.

The Australian Open semi-finalist will meet Zhang Shuai of China, who beat compatriot Peng Shuai in three tightly fought sets 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-4.

The pair last met in Melbourne, where Konta halted qualifier Zhang’s fairy-tale run in the quarter finals.

But Britain’s Heather Watson, Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia and Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova all joined the injury list as they retired from their first-round matches.

The late-season tournament, which comes just two weeks after the year’s final Grand Slam, the US Open, also saw five retirements last year — including in the final.

Monday’s pull-outs enabled American Madison Brengle, Yulia Putintseva of Kazakstan and Japan’s Misaki Doi to progress to the second round with unexpected ease.

Wimbledon quarter-finalist Dominika Cibulkova took three sets to beat French qualifier Alize Cornet 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 and next faces German Laura Siegemund.

Former French Open finalist Simona Halep took less than 70 minutes to reach the third round, advancing when fellow Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu retired in the second set of their second-round match.

The fourth-seeded Halep was leading 6-3, 2-0 when Begu retired with a back injury amid warm and humid conditions.

Halep, who skipped the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo last week because of a hamstring strain, had a first-round bye at Wuhan.

Top-seeded Angelique Kerber is in action on Tuesday against Kristina Mladenovic, who had a 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 first-round win over CoCo Vandeweghe.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2016