Coco Gauff closes strong to begin Beijing title defense

Coco Gauff began her China Open title defense with a 6-4, 6-0 win over Russia's Kamilla Rakhimova on Friday in Beijing.

The second-round clash started with the competitors splitting the first six games on serve before Gauff took complete control, winning nine of the last 10 games of the match.

The second-seeded American saved all 10 break points she faced -- including eight in the first set -- and converted four of her nine break chances.

Gauff had more double faults (five) than aces (four) but won 66 percent of her service points and 51 percent of her return points.

"I'm happy with how I played," Gauff said after the match. "(Rakhimova) played well starting off, and I was just getting used to the conditions, but I thought it was a good match overall. I'm super happy to be back here in Beijing. Obviously, I had great memories last year, and I'm hoping to make some more good memories here."

Gauff's third-round opponent is 25th-seeded Canadian Leylah Fernandez, who beat Greece's Maria Sakkari 6-2, 6-0 in 74 minutes. Gauff has won each of their previous two matches, including at this year's Australian Open.

While those two advanced without much adversity, six seeded competitors fell to unseeded foes in second-round action at the WTA 1000 event.

Czech Barbara Krejcikova defeated No. 9 Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia 7-5, 6-2. American McCartney Kessler defeated No. 20 Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-2, 6-4 for her fifth top-30 win of the year. Australia's Priscilla Hon knocked off No. 22 seed Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia.

In a match of home-country competitors, Shuai Zhang defeated No. 31 seed Xinyu Wang 6-4, 6-2 for her first victory in four career meetings. She'll next face No. 3 Amanda Anisimova, who blew past Britain's Katie Boulter with a 6-1, 6-3 win.

Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic eked out a 7-5, 7-5 victory over 33rd-seeded Magda Linette of Poland while German Eva Lys escaped a battle which lasted 2:37 to defeat No. 32 Iva Jovic 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.

Sixth-seeded Italian Jasmine Paolini coasted to a 6-1, 6-3 win over Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova and No. 8 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan outlasted Caty McNally 7-5, 4-6, 6-3. No. 15 Belinda Bencic defeated Katie Volynets 6-3, 6-3 and No. 18 Paula Badosa of Spain defeated Croatia's Antonia Ruzic 6-3, 7-6 (2).

--Field Level Media