BEIJING: Romanian third seed Irina-Camelia Begu dismissed Lara Arruabarrena of Spain 6-3, 6-2 in the first round of the WTA Shenzhen Open on Monday. The world No 31 disposed of her rival in an hour and 26 minutes at the $427,000 tournament in the southern Chinese boom town. Her compatriot Monica Niculescu, the fourth seed, lost the first set against Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova but eventually prevailed 1-6, 6-4, 6-3. But eighth seed Annika Beck of Germany fell at the first hurdle, going out to American Alison Riske, who won 6-7, 6-3, 6-2 in two hours and 19 minutes, by far the longest match of the day. The top two seeds, Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic and Poland’s top-rated Agnieszka Radwanska, who beat her to win the WTA Finals in Singapore in November, begin their campaigns on Tuesday.