Wang Qiang of China in action during her Women's Singles first round match against Pauline Parmentier of France on day two of the 2020 Australian Open at Melbourne Park, January 21, 2020.
The first grand slam of the season the Australian Open continued on Tuesday in Melbourne and top Chinese player Wang Qiang stormed into the second round after defeating France's Pauline Parmentier 7-6, 6-3. The French wildcard was no match for her Chinese rival as Wang wrapped up her opening match in straight sets at Melbourne Park.
Earlier, in the first set, the 27th seed Chinese faced strong challenge from her 33-year-old opponent but she prevailed over with some emphatic displays.
The opening set was forced to a tiebreak but the French made a double fault to give it away to her rival. Wang put up more resistance in a competitive second set, building up a 5-0 lead with more gifts from Parmentier.
Parmentier tried hard to pull back at 5-3, but Wang ended it with a smart drop shot to seal the match. The 28-year-old Chinese stepped into the second round where she will meet another French player Fiona Ferro in round two.
Peng Shuai of China in action during her Women's Singles first round match against Nao Hibino of Japan on day two of the 2020 Australian Open at Melbourne Park, January 21, 2020.
Meanwhile, another Chinese Peng Shuai was knocked out of the singles draw of the year's first Grand Slam as she bit the dust against Japanese Nao Hibino in the first round. The two were tied up at 3-3 until the 25-year-old Japanese broke the 34-year-old Chinese first, leading at 4-3.
Peng were answering with her own break, sending a forehand winner in the next game to level it up. Then she played with more patience in the rest of the set, waiting for more errors from the Japanese, and took the first set at 6-4.
The second set went into a tiebreak after Peng built up a 4-1 lead. However, Hibino managed to pull it back, leveling things up after taking the tiebreak 8-6. In the decider, Peng had troubles of her leg injury as she had to squat down several times to stop playing. Eventually, Hibino won the deciding third set 6-3 to end Peng's Australian Open campaign.
Wang Yafan of China serves during her Women's Singles first round match against Alison Riske of the United States on day two of the 2020 Australian Open at Melbourne Park, January 21, 2020.
Elsewhere, another Chinese in the draw, Wang Yafan was defeated by Alison Riske 7-6, 2-6, 6-3 in a competitive three-setter. The 18th seeded American will now face Wang's compatriot Zhu Lin in the second round.