After the Wuhan Open, the WTA International Tournament continued at the China Open in Beijing where the semifinalists received a first round bye to give them some time to recuperate on Sunday.

Second seeded Simona Halep saw action in the opening round against Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova, winning the match in two sets 6-1 6-4.

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The 23-year-old Romanian will face wild card entry Lin Zhu of China in the next round that defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the first round.

French Open champion Maria Sharapova also saw action Sunday against Kaia Kanepi of Estonia and defeated her in straight sets 6-4 6-1.

The fourth seeded Russian will next face up and coming Ukrainian star Elina Svitolina who received a first round bye after becoming a semifinalist in Wuhan.

Fifth seeded Agnieszka Radwanska disposed American Coco Vandeweghe in two straight sets 6-4 6-3 and sets up a next round confrontation against Roberta Vinci who won a three set match against Yaraslova Shvedova.

Eleventh seed Sara Errani, Vinci's doubles partner, was unfortunate during her opening matchup as she lost to Japan's Kurumi Nara in three sets 6-3 3-6 4-6.

Sixteenth seed Venus Williams had a relatively easy match against Heather Watson as she defeated the Brit in straight sets 6-3 6-1.

While other top seeded players had quite an easy first round match, seventh seed Angelique Kerber, 12^th seed Ekaterina Makarova and 15^th seed Andrea Petkovic had to go the distance against Casey Dellacqua, Garbina Muguruza and Monica Niculescu respectively to advance to the next round.

Kerber will face Zarina Diyas, Makarova against Polona Hercog and Petkovic battles it out against Madison Keys in the second round.

Hong Kong Tennis Open champion Sabine Lisicki dropped the first set of her match against wild card entry Xu Shilin of China but came back blazing in the next two sets 4-6 6-2 6-0 to setup a second round clash against Wuhan Open finalist Canadian Eugenie Bouchard.

TagsElina Svitolina, Venus Williams