Donna Vekic beats Riske at Taiwan Open

Donna Vekic caused an upset by eliminating Alison Riske in the first round of the inaugural Taiwan Open, but Yulia Putintseva made it safely through.

Eighth seed Riske put in a disjointed performance in Kaohsiung, the American recording 12 double faults and surrendering serve five times in a 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 defeat.

Vekic had some trouble on serve as well and was broken four times, but also hit nine aces in a match that lasted two hours 40 minutes.

Putintseva, seeded third, had no such trouble as she saw off Marina Melnikova 6-2 6-3 in a little over 90 minutes.

Zheng Saisai and Kurumi Nara, the fifth and seventh seeds, also progressed. The former beat Laura Pous Tio 6-2 7-5, while the latter saw off Wang Qiang 6-1 6-3.

Fourth seed Zarina Diyas needed to dig deep to beat Lyudmyla Kichenok 5-7 6-1 6-2, while Hsieh Su-wei – seeded sixth – also needed three sets in a 7-6 (7-1) 4-6 6-2 beating of Ayaka Okuno.

In other matches, Mandy Minella came through in straight sets against Naomi Osaka, while Elizaveta Kulichkova and Stefanie Voegele were taken the distance in their respective victories over Lee Ya-hsuan and Chang Kai-chen.