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Fresh, or perhaps exhausted, from winning in Hong Kong Ajla Tomljanovic has suffered a first round defeat in the Wuhan Open, losing to Lucia Bronzetti 6-1 7-6 (7-2) in a few minutes under two hours.
It was a disappointing but perhaps not unexpected coda to claiming the Hong Kong Open at the weekend, a success that took Tomljanovic back into the world top 100 for the first time in more than a year.
It also put the 31-year-old on the brink of regaining her Australian No.1 status with Olivia Gadecki, at 83rd, only three places above her.
At the top of the rankings the focus is on Aryna Sabalenka who needs only to make the quarter-finals at Wuhan to regain top spot from Iga Swiatek, who withdrew from the Asian swing citing fatigue and personal reasons. The Pole recently split with coach Tomasz Wiktorowski.
Sabalenka will meet Katerina Siniakova after the 37-ranked Czech had a comfortable 6-3 6-1 victory over Alexandra Eala of the Philippines.
Sabalenka, who won the title the last time it was played in 2019, received a first-round bye, as did the other top eight seeds including China Open champion Coco Gauff.
Elsewhere Magda Linette of Poland routed No. 23-ranked Liudmila Samsonova 6-2 6-2, and Ekaterina Alexandrova beat former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin 6-1 4-6 6-4.
In Shanghai, the last two Aussie men in the draw were ousted with Alexei Popyrin falling 7-6 (5), 6-2 to Grigor Dimitrov while Alex Vukic was beaten 6-4, 6-2 by Tomas Machac.
© AAP