Sixth seed and home favourite Zheng Saisai crashed out of the Shenzhen Open in the first round on Sunday, losing to Pauline Parmentier 6-2 3-6 6-2.
In her first match of the new season, Zheng was almost blown away early on as Parmentier claimed the opening set.
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But a strong response in the second appeared to set the Chinese star on course for an opening victory, maintaining her bid by then rescuing two break points early in the third.
Zheng soon bowed under the pressure, though, and Parmentier confidently completed the first upset of the WTA International tournament.
Starting the season off on the right @ppauline86 finishes off Zheng 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 in just over two hours to reach @ShenzhenOpenWTA second round. pic.twitter.com/ISzFPaDxzw
— WTA (@WTA) December 30, 2018
There were no such troubles for eighth seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who thrashed Ana Bogdan 6-0 6-1, while two-time grand slam finalist Vera Zvonareva also progressed.
Wang Yafan ensured there was a victory for the home supporters to celebrate and both Sorana Cirstea and Evgeniya Rodina headed through.
