China Open: Blinkova beats Donna Vekic to reach the round of 32

Russian Anna Blinkova advanced to the 32 of the China Open by defeating Croat Donna Vekic 6-3, 7-5 on Saturday night.

In the final 1000-level event on the WTA, first-round matches are already underway in Beijing, as a stacked field competes to reach the second week of the competition.

There are four players who are already into the last 32, however. Pegula, Sakkari, Pavlyuchenkova and Kudermetova have all received bye courtesy of a new rule allowing byes based on recent performance.

Blinkova, ranked No 40, will face one of those in-form players in No 4 seed Jessica Pegula next.