Hobart, Australia – Reigning champion Mona Barthel reached the second round, while top-seeded Su-Wei Hsieh was bounced Monday at the Hobart International tennis event, a final Australian Open tune-up.
Chinese Peng Shuai outlasted the Taiwanese Hsieh 6-2, 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-4), while a ninth-seeded Barthel came from behind to beat Aussie wild card Ashleigh Barty 2-6, 6-0, 6-1 on the hardcourts at Hobart International Tennis Centre. Hsieh captured the first two WTA titles of her career last season.
The German Barthel defeated Belgian Yanina Wickmayer in last year's Hobart finale. She'll meet South African Chanelle Scheepers on Tuesday.
In other opening-round action involving seeds, No. 2 Sorana Cirstea of Romania overcame Russian lucky-loser Nina Bratchikova 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, No. 4 Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan handled Spaniard Lourdes Dominguez Lino 6-4, 6-1, and Belgian Kirsten Flipkens upended No. 6 Francesca Schiavone of Italy 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3).
Also advancing to the round of 16 were the aforementioned Scheepers, American qualifier Lauren Davis, Aussie wild card Jarmila Gajdosova, Russian Elena Vesnina, Romanians Monica Niculescu and Simona Halep, and Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova.
Eighth-seeded rising American Sloane Stephens will play a second-round match against Romanian Simona Halep on Tuesday.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.