Beijing, China – Top seed Victoria Azarenka and reigning champion Agnieszka Radwanska were among Tuesday's second-round winners at the $4.8 million China Open tennis event.
The world No. 1 Azarenka handled German slugger Sabine Lisicki 6-4, 6-2 in 1 hour, 20 minutes, while the third-seeded Radwanska continued her winning ways at this event with an 81-minute 6-2, 6-3 pasting of Chinese wild card Zhang Shuai at Beijing's National Tennis Centre.
The 2012 Wimbledon runner-up Radwanska beat German Andrea Petkovic in last year's Beijing finale and was a runner-up here in 2009. Radwanska was also a runner-up in Tokyo last week.
The Australian Open champion and U.S. Open runner-up Azarenka will meet Russian Elena Vesnina in the third round on Thursday, while Radwanska will meet Spanish qualifier Lourdes Dominguez Lino on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, 10th-seeded former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki has now won 10 of her last 11 matches, including her first title of the year in Seoul two weeks ago, after coming from behind to best rising Taiwanese Su-Wei Hsieh 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-3), 6-0 in 2 hours, 48 minutes on Day 4. The surprising Hsieh titled in Guangzhou, China two weeks ago for her second title of the season.
The 2010 China Open champion Wozniacki will meet fifth-seeded German left- hander Angelique Kerber on Thursday.
Four other top-10 stars took to the courts on Tuesday, as Kerber whipped Spanish qualifier Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino 6-2, 6-0; No. 7 Chinese favorite Li Na cooled off last week's Tokyo champion Nadia Petrova of Russia 6-1, 6-2; German Julia Goerges upended No. 8 Aussie star Samantha Stosur 7-6 (7-2), 4-6, 7-5; and No. 9 Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli dismissed Japanese qualifier Ayumi Morita 6-4, 6-3.
Petrova had been 6-0 lifetime against the former French Open champion Li.
"It was a tough draw to play Li Na at home," Petrova said. "I also played so many matches and spent so many hours on the court in Tokyo, so not only was I a bit fatigued, I had a slight injury in my leg. So today was pretty difficult.
"She played very fast and moved me around, and after a couple of games I started feeling my leg worse and worse, and I couldn't really move to the sides or corners well. I couldn't adjust well and just felt a little bit slow today."
Some additional second-round action saw Swiss Romina Oprandi erase Italian qualifier Camila Giorgi 7-5, 6-2, former world No. 1 Serb Jelena Jankovic drub Romanian Monica Niculescu 6-2, 6-1 and Spaniard Lourdes Dominguez Lino drive out British qualifier Laura Robson 7-5, 6-3. Jankovic was the China Open champ in 2008 and runner-up in 2007.
On Wednesday, second-seeded French Open champion and former top-ranked star Maria Sharapova will face Romanian Sorana Cirstea in a second-round affair.
The 2012 China Open titlist will collect $848,000.
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