Wild card Romanian tennis player Simona Halepon Monday lost to China's Yue Yuan, 3-6 3-6, in the first round of the women's singles event at the Hong Kong Open WTA 250 tournament, inform agerpres.ro.
Sixth seed Yuan, 26, world number 45, prevailed in an hour and 23 minutes.
This was the first head-to-head meeting of the former world leader and Yuan.
For Halep it was only her second appearance in a WTA main draw this year, after losing in the first round in Miami in March.
She came to Hong Kong almost a month after participating in a WTA 125 tournament, where she was defeated in the round of 16.
On the main draw in Hong Kong there is also Romanian Ana Bogdan, who in the first round will play Australian Kimberly Birrell.
Halep will get USD 2,890 and one singles WTA point for her participation.
Comentează