Venus Falls, Kerber Wins In Beijing; Kvitova, Halep Tuesday

World No. 1 Angelique Kerber cruised in her opener at the lucrative WTA Beijing event, beating qualifier Katerina Siniakova 6-4, 6-4.

Kerber has now won 9 of her last 10 matches, she’ll now meet Barbora Strycova.

“I think it comes from a lot of experience, to being really focused and trying to be more positive on court than negative. It was something I was trying to change for a long time,” Kerber said.

“I know that I can still improve this, but I think this is also one of the keys why I’m playing so well and so consistent, because it’s really important to have your mind on the court and thinking about the match right now.”

Other top seeds were also winners including No. 2 seed Garbine Muguruza who defeated Yulia Putinseva and former champion Agnieszka Radwanska was a winner over Ekatarina Makarova. Both Muguruza and Radwanska were second round matches.

Other winners were Timea Bacsinszky, Elina Svitolina and Karolina Pliskova who beat Lucie Safarova.

Last year Muguruza beat Bacsinszky in the final.

Not making it through, however, was Venus Williams. The 36-year-old fell to Chinese veteran Peng Shuai 7-5, 6-1.

On tap Tuesday in second round play are Petra Kvitova, Caroline Wozniacki, Simona Halep and Pliskova.