Yuan Yue celebrates 27th birthday by beating Putintseva at China Open

Home wildcard Yuan Yue defeated Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-3 in the women's singles first round at the China Open in Beijing on Thursday, celebrating her 27-year-old birthday with a victory that ended her four-match losing streak in singles.

Both had secured a win in their previous two meetings. Yuan saved two break points in the second game and continued to play better and better. She broke Putintseva twice in the first set, once in the fifth game and again in the ninth, before taking the set 6-3.

Yuan overcame a 40-0 deficit in the fifth game of the second set to hold serve. Then she exploited Putintseva's increasing errors in the eighth game to score a break before sealing the deal and advancing to the second round. She will challenge top seed Iga Swiatek of Poland next.

In other action, China's Zhu Lin beat Moyuka Uchijima of Japan 6-1, 6-3 to pocket her first win at the China open in 11 years. Having broken Uchijima in the second game, Zhu held serve to lead 3-0 and then added another break in the sixth game before holding to take the set 6-1.

The second set grew a bit closer as the two exchanged breaks in the third and fourth games. The 31-year-old Chinese then left no chance for Uchijima, breaking her in the seventh and ninth games to reach the second round where No. 4 seed Mirra Andreeva of Russia awaits.

In men's action, top-seed Jannik Sinner cruised past Marin Cilic of Croatia 6-2, 6-2 in the first round. The Italian will play qualifier Terence Atmane of France next.