DAY 2 of the Shenzhen opened with a bang, with qualifiers taking the court ahead of the Round of 32 competitors. Number three seed, Elise Mertens took on Ukrainian, Lesia Tsurenko on centre court, defeating Tsurenko in straight sets.

With a number of key matchups hitting the court on Day 2, it was hard to look past the battle between Tsurenko and Mertens. Tsurenko fought valiantly but was ultimately unable to compete against the top-20 ranked Belgian, going down 3-6 3-6, with Mertens collecting a much-needed second win in a row.

Another worthy battle waged between China’s Zhang Shuai and Poland’s Magda Linette, with the duo only three apart in international ranking (40 and 43 respectively). With the pair so well matched it was always set to be an interesting one, especially given Shuai’s winning record against Linette.

Ekaterina Alexandrova continued her recent form with a win against Czech Republic’s Katerina Siniakova. While ranked lower, Siniakova got the bragging rights last time these two players met, making for an interesting battle. Alexandrova collected her sixth win on the trot after achieving the ultimate success last month in the Open BLS De Limoges. Though the pair were even on two wins apiece prior to this match, Alexandrova was clinical on the court, standing up to win in straight sets, 4-6 4-6.

Wang Xiyu and Kateryna Bondarenko also proceeded into the next round of the tournament, with respective wins putting them in good stead to take on future competitors.

In the qualifying stage, American Nicole Gibbs finished off higher ranked Jasmine Paolini in straight sets while Margarita Gasparyan won her respective two-hour match against Timea Babos despite dropping the second set. Also proceeding on to Day 3 are Anna-Lena Friedsam and Irina-Camelia Begu who reigned supreme later in the afternoon. All four players will join the Round of 32 tomorrow, taking on their respective opposition in Shelby Rogers, Aliaksandra Sasnovich, Kristyna Pliskova and Aryna Sabalenka in hope to proceed in the tournament.