Shenzhen, China (SportsNetwork.com) – Kazakhstan’s Zarina Diyas was a first-
round winner Sunday at the season-opening Shenzhen Open tennis tournament.
The fourth-seeded Diyas posted a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Croatian Donna Vekic on
the hardcourts at Shenzhen Longgang Tennis Centre.
Fifth-seeded Czech Klara Koukalova fell 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5) to Slovakian Anna
Schmiedlova, while eighth-seeded Timea Bacsinszky outlasted Stefanie Voegele
6-1, 4-6, 6-4 in an all-Swiss affair.
Russian wild card Natalia Vikhlyantseva, Hungarian Timea Babos and China’s
Zheng Saisai also won first-round matches.
Li Na beat Peng Shuai in last year’s all-Chinese finale.
Shenzhen serves as a tune-up for the Australian Open, which will begin January
19 in Melbourne.
