BEIJING, Sept 29: Fourth seed Petra Kvitova sent out a message of intent, convincingly defeating Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova in straight sets to progress to the second round of the China Open here at the National Tennis Stadium on Saturday.

The world number five from the Czech Republic was in full control throughout almost all of her first-round match, powerfully overcoming her opponent, ranked 33 in the WTA standings, 6-2, 6-3.

Earlier, former world number one Ana Ivanovic eased into the second round, defeating American Christina McHale 6-3, 6-2.

The 24-year-old Serbian played aggressively from the start, hitting big first serves and powerful forehand drives which McHale, ranked 28 in the world, was unable to match.

Also in the first round on Saturday Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-Wei, winner of the Guangzhou Open this month, defeated Zheng Saisai of China 6-2, 6-3 while in an all-Chinese clash Zhang Shuai beat Wang Qiang 6-3, 6-2.

Results (prefix number denotes seeding): First round: 4-Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) bt Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) 6-2, 6-3; Yaroslava Shvedova (Kazakhstan) bt 12-Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) 6-4, 4-1 (Cibulkova retired); 11-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) bt Christina Mchale (US) 6-3, 6-2; Varvara Lepchenko (US) bt Tsvetana Pironkova (Bulgaria) 7-5, 6-4; Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) bt Timea Bacsinszky (Switzerland) 6-4, 6-1; Hsieh Su-Wei (Taiwan) bt Zheng Saisai (China) 6-2, 6-3; Romina Oprandi (Switzerland) bt Urszula Radwanska (Poland) 7-5, 6-2; Zhang Shuai (China) bt Wang Qiang (China) 6-3, 6-2.—AFP