After the start of main-draw action was washed out for two straight days at the Tianjin Open, the tournament headliners Petra Kvitova and Maria Sharapova finally took the court on Wednesday. The second-seeded Kvitova suffered a shock first-round defeat to Chinese world No.113 Zhu Lin 6-4 5-7 6-4, committing eight double faults in the process, while wildcard Sharapova, now ranked 86th in the world, converted all four of her break points to get past her first-round obstacle, ninth seed Irina-Camelia Begu 6-4 6-2 in 82 minutes.
Tianjin also welcomed Sara Errani, who is returning from a two-month suspension for a failed drugs test that was positive because her mother’s cancer medication had accidentally ended up in the tennis player’s tortellini. The Italian went through qualifying and today recorded a straight-set win over Kateryna Kozlova, 6-2 6-1. Our photographer Jimmie48 has all that and more covered!
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Zhu played well after another round. I think this is her break out tournament. Well done!