Top seed Osaka advances, Wang Qiang out of Madrid Open first round

Top seed Naomi Osaka won her first match at the Madrid Open on Sunday, beating Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia.

The 21-year-old Japanese overpowered 2016 Madrid Open finalist Cibulkova in the two hour tug-of-war, hitting eight aces on the red clay court. After a favorable first set, Osaka fought hard in the second set coming from behind, and eventually defeated the world No 33 Slovak 6-2, 7-6 (6).

In the second round, Osaka will face Sara Sorribes Tormo, who eliminated her Spanish compatriot Lara Arruabarrena 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 on Sunday.

Zheng Saisai became the sole Chinese player, out of four, having survived the first round as the 25-year-old beat compatriot Wang Yafan 7-5, 7-6 (3) to advance.

No 15 seed Wang Qiang was ousted by Croatian Donna Vekic 7-5, 6-4. In their last match at the 2017 Miami Open, Wang Qiang fought back from a set down to fend off Vekic 0-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Another Chinese, Zhang Shuai, was beaten by Kateryna Kozlova of Ukraine 6-3, 6-2.