Beijing, September 21:

Serena Williams was knocked out in the second round of the China Open on Wednesday, falling to China’s Sun Tiantian by a score of 6-2, 7-6. It was an error-filled match, with Williams spraying balls long, hitting drop shots short and double-faulting to fall to 4-5 in the second set. She managed to break Sun’s service in the next set to stay alive, but her comeback was short-lived.

It was a great day for China overall, as Zheng Jie upset the No 6 seed Serb Jelena Jankovic 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 in a first-round match, and Peng Shuai beat Maria Diaz-Oliva of Argentina, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 in a second-round encounter. In other first round action, Israel’s Shahar Peer beat Russia’s Vera Douchevina 6-2, 6-0. Japan’s Shinobu Asaboe upset No 7 Tatiana Golovin of France 6-3, 6-4. Poland’s Marta Domachowska crui-sed past Meghann Shaughnessy of the US 6-3, 6-3.

Sunfeast Open

KOLKATA:

Hungary’s Melinda Czink entered the quarter-finals of the WTA Tour’s $170,000 Sunfeast Open, defeating third-seeded Sania Mirza of India in the second round. The 131st-ranked Czink rallied from a disastrous start to capitalise on the 34th-ranked Mirza’s errors, winning 0-6, 6-4, 6-4.

No 8 Rika Fujiwara of Japan also failed to make the quarter-finals as India’s Shikha Uberoi clinched a 6-2, 6-3 win. Elena Likhovtseva of Russia outplayed Ukraine’s Yuliana Fedak 6-1, 6-3 to enter the second round, while No 7 Karolina Sprem of Croatia faced a tough contest against Australia’s Evie Dominikovic before prevailing 6-4, 7-5.

Galina Voskoboeva continued Russia’s fine show advancing to the second round with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, while Sybille Bammer of Austria posted an easy 6-1, 6-3 triumph over Australia’s Nicole Pratt.