Kerber, Wozniacki crashing out of Wuhan Open

WUHAN, China - Round one action drew to a close at the 2019 Donfeng Motor Wuhan Open tennis tournament here on Monday, with a pair of notable top flight exits.

Action on center court started with a three-set showdown where Tunisian Ons Jabeur who replaced Victoria Azarenka after she withdrew from competition due to a shoulder injury, knocked out 16th seed Donna Vekic of Croatia 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. Jabeur fired 32 winners to only 18 for Vekic on the way to the victory sealed in just under two hours.

Jabeur next faces Elena Rybakina, who won her first-round match against Chinese qualifier Zhu Lin on Sunday.

The day session also saw world No 18 Caroline Wozniacki falling to No 32 Hsieh Su Wei of Chinese Taipei in three sets: 7-6 (2), 1-6, 2-6 in their round-one clash.

Hsieh looked to be down and out at the end of the first set, with Wozniacki breaking twice and firing off five aces on her way to serving for it at 5-1, only to watch that lead evaporate as her opponent responded with two breaks of her own to level it 5-all. Hsieh then held serve for the rest of the set to force a tiebreak, which Wozniacki was able to win with ease.

Things turned sour for Wozniacki in the second; she was broken twice on the way to Hsieh sealing it in just 32 minutes, and it was a similar story in the third; she faced two breaks while never taking her opponent to break point in a meltdown that left her visibly rattled.

Up next for Hsieh is Russian qualifier Svetlana Kuznetsova, who moved to the second round due to opponent Yulia Putinseva retiring after one set.

Monica Puig of Puerto Rico upset another player in the top tier, winning a rematch of her 2016 Rio Olympic final paring against German Angelique Kerber in straight sets, 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-1.

Puig played a very aggressive baseline game that proved to be a high risk, high reward strategy against Kerber, firing off 56 winners to almost as many (51) unforced errors over the course of the grueling two hour 49 minute showdown.

Puig served for the match in the second set at 5-4, only to start coughing up unforced errors at the worst possible time, with Kerber taking her to break point twice on the way to converting to level it the scoreboard 5-all.

Thankfully for Puig, things came back together in the decider; she broke Kerber three times on the way to sealing the victory.