Shenzhen, China (SportsNetwork.com) - Four seeded women, including former French Open runner-up Sara Errani, posted opening-round wins Monday at the season-opening Shenzhen Open tennis event.
The second-seeded Errani held off Chinese wild card Zheng Saisai 6-0, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3) on the hardcourts at Shenzhen Longgang Tennis Center.
An upset came when German Anna-Lena Friedsam took out fourth-seeded Serb Bojana Jovanovski 6-1, 7-5 at this Australian Open tune-up.
In other action involving seeds, No. 3 Czech Klara Zakopalova handled Croat Donna Vekic 6-3, 7-5, No. 7 Chinese Zheng Jie whipped Israeli Shahar Peer 6-0, 6-3, and No. 8 German Annika Beck erased Croat Ajla Tomljanovic 6-3, 6-4. Zakopalova was last year's Shenzhen runner-up to Chinese tennis hero Li Na.
Several other women reached the round of 16, including American Vania King, who outlasted Croat Petra Martic 7-5, 4-6, 6-3. King will face the gritty Errani in the second round.
On Tuesday, a top-seeded Li will open her 2014 campaign against wild card former top-10 Russian star Vera Zvonareva.
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