Peng beats Niculescu to reach last 16 of China Open

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Home favorite Peng Shuai beat Monica Niculescu of Romania 6-3, 6-2 in the second round of the 2017 China Open on Wednesday, making it to the last 16 for the first time since 2012 for women's singles.

Peng Shuai failed to dominate the game at first as the two players broke each other's serve games at the beginning of each set, until Peng pulled herself together and managed to claim victory by holding serves.

"I've played against Niculescu many times before, she is always creative on the court so it took me some time to get used to it," said Peng after the match.

Awaiting Peng in the third round is Grand Slam winner, Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, who overwhelmed Samantha Stosur today by 6-3 and 7-5.

The wild-card entry Sharapova ran into serious trouble on her serve today, producing five double faults in the whole match, three of which came in the first set.

Maria Sharapova says goodbye to China Open. /VCG Photo

After each broke once in the first two games of the first set, the No.2 seed broke another two and held her own two to take a dominant 5-1 lead. Although Sharapova managed to take the seventh which she served for, Halep showed no mercy in the eighth on service, winning four games in a row to close out the first set.

Sharapova, a wild card entry, was broken twice in the third and seventh games of the second set, on the back of several unforced errors including two double faults. The Romanian star won the second set in the eighth game on service, snatching her first ever career victory over Sharapova.

Awaiting Halep in the quarterfinals is Russian player Daria Kasatkina, who upset No. 11 seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, in the night session.