(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-09-18 19:16

BEIJING -- Swiss fifth-seeded Martina Hingis won her first match at the China Open tennis tournament here on Tuesday as she defeated Sun Tiantian of China 6-2, 6-3.

Martina Hingis of Switzerland serves against Sun Tiantian of China during their match on day nine of the China Tennis Open on September 18, 2007 in Beijing, China. Hingis won Sun 2:0. [AP]

The 26-year-old Swiss, who is making her debut at a Chinese tournament today, has played Sun once before at Miami last year on hardcourts and won 6-3, 6-2.

In today's match, though Hingis was not in her best form, she also beat her opponent with her strong, steady ground strokes in 58 minutes.

After an early exchange of breaks, the two players levelled the scores, but it was Hingis who pulled away first. Service breaks in the fourth and eighth games took Hingis to an easy first-set 6-2 win.

The second set, however, told a different story. Both players gained their serves and holding two games apiece. Then they traded breaks in sixth and seventh game. Finally, Hingis regained the momentum. She broke in the eighth game and won the her final service game to a 6-3 victory.

In the second round, Martina will play Peng Shuai of China.

If the Swiss can go further, the first seeded player of the tournament she can meet is third seed Amelie Mauresmo of France in the quarters.

Top seed and defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova is also on Martina's side of the draw.