Raducanu and Kartal reach China Open third round

Emma Raducanu and Sonay Kartal of Great Britain won the China Open in Beijing in straight sets.

Cristina Bucsa, the unseeded Spaniard, fought it out to win the British number one, 6-3, 6-3.

In less than an hour, Kartal put on a strong performance to defeat Australian 14th seed Daria Kasatkina 6-3, 6-0.

The 30th seeded world number 31 Raducanu, who had only 16 victories over Bucsa’s 28, but remained in control of the crucial discussions.

In a fierce first set, she saved six break points before winning the match’s final two to appear to be in charge.

Raducanu won the opening two games of the second, but Bucsa eventually broke serve to level the match at 2-2 after missing the chance to go 3-0 up.

She immediately won four of the final five games and won.

Raducanu, who received a first-round bye, missed three match points while playing for the first time since losing to Barbora Krejcikova in the Korea Open this month’s quarter-finals.

After impressing the audience with his Mandarin speaking, Raducanu said, “I’m very happy that I’ve gotten over it and a tough one last week to bounce back.”

“I’m really hoping to do well here.” It’s great to return because I’m half Chinese.

In her first-round victory over Alycia Parks, the three-time world champion and 81-year-old Kartal only lost five games.

She swung past world number 20 Kasatkina on Saturday, turning in six of her 11 break points, making it even more polished.

Kartal won against a top 20 opponent for the third time this year.

She will have to face off against 19-year-old Joint, who holds the WTA title twice and is 45 places ahead of Kartal in the rankings.

Iga Swiatek, the top seed, defeated Yue Yuan of China 6-0, 6-3 to advance to the third-round against Colombian Camila Osorio, who is unseeded.