Kristyna Pliskova advances to 2nd round at Japan Women’s Open

Kristyna Pliskova, of Czech Republic, returns a shot from Misa Eguchi, of Japan, during the first round of the U.S. Open. (Frank Franklin II/AP)

TOKYO — Fourth-seeded Kristyna Pliskova advanced to the second round of the Japan Women’s Open by beating Chang Kai-chen of Taiwan 7-5, 7-5 on Monday.

The Czech had 14 aces in hot and windy conditions at Ariake Colloseum and will face either Nao Hibino or Miyu Kato in the second round.

Third-seeded Elise Mertens of Belgium also advanced, beating Evgeniya Rodina of Russia 7-6 (6), 6-1.

Also, Wang Qiang of China defeated Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan 7-5, 6-2 and Jana Cepelova of Slovakia advanced when Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus retired while trailing 6-3, 1-0.

Japanese veteran Kimiko Date, who announced last week she will retire for good after the Japan Women’s Open, will play 78th-ranked Aleksandra Krunic in the first round on Tuesday.

The 46-year-old Date, who had a career-high ranking of No. 4, retired once before in 1996 and returned to competition in 2008.

[relatedlinks]

When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.