Four Chinese players begin Australian Open qualifiers with victories

China's Yuan Yue, Wu Yibing, Bai Zhuoxuan and Ma Yexin all won their first-round qualifying matches for the Australian Open on Tuesday, while Guo Hanyu and Gao Xinyu were beaten and Wei Sijia retired due to injury.

No. 25 seed Yuan came back from one set down to beat Louisa Chirico of the U.S. 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 in one hour and 50 minutes in the women's singles.

Yuan dropped the first four games to Chirico, but won 15 of the next 20 to close out the match.

On the same court at Melbourne Park, Wu converted his fifth match point to defeat another American, Mitchell Krueger 7-5, 6-4 in the men's singles.

Wu smacked 41 winners compared to 16 for Krueger despite having to overcome a cold.

Bai continued her comeback from injuries that sidelined her for most of the 2025 season with a 6-4, 6-3 win against Alina Korneeva of Russia. Ma lost three of the first four games in the second set but still soundly defeated Varvara Lepchenko 6-1, 6-3.

Ma's second round match on Wednesday will be against American Elvina Kalieva, who advanced when Wei was forced to retire from their clash due to an apparent back injury.

Playing against the 31st seed Dominika Salkova, Guo saved two set points in the opening set and tied it at 5-5, but lost the battle 7-5, 6-1 in the end.

Gao won the first set against Austrian rising star Lilli Tagger and led the second 4-2 before the 17-year-old fought back and sealed the deal 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 in two hours and 54 minutes.

Participants in the qualifying tournament must win three consecutive matches to make the singles main draw at the Australian Open, which will start at Melbourne Park on Sunday.