Hong Kong (SportsNetwork.com) - Top seed Sabine Lisicki of Germany was a hard-fought first-round victor Tuesday at the inaugural Hong Kong Open.
Last year's Wimbledon runner-up overcame Romanian veteran Monica Niculescu 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-1 on the hardcourts at Victoria Park.
Lisicki's second-round opponent will be American Grace Min.
The lone Day 2 upset saw former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone of Italy vanquish fourth-seeded American Christina McHale 6-4, 5-7, 6-2.
In other action involving seeds, No. 3 Czech Karolina Pliskova came back to beat Slovenian Polona Hercog 2-6, 6-4, 6-3; No. 5 Chinese Zheng Jie topped Japanese Misa Eguchi 6-1, 7-6 (7-5); No. 6 Belgian Yanina Wickmayer dismissed Russian qualifier Elizaveta Kulichkova 6-4, 6-4; and No. 7 Slovak Jana Cepelova whipped South African Chanelle Scheepers 6-2, 6-1.
Several other women posted opening-round wins, including Puerto Rican Monica Puig and 43-year-old Japanese Kimiko Date-Krumm.
This week's champion will collect $43,000.
