GUANGZHOU: Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig upset No.2 seed Andrea Petkovic of Germany in first-round play Tuesday in the WTA Guangzhou International Women’s Open.

The unseeded Puig defeated Petkovic 6-1, 6-4 in the biggest upset of the day in the southern Chinese city.

Players are battling for prize money of $250,000.

There were no surprises for top-seeded Simona Halep of Romania, who beat Petra Martic of Croatia 6-4, 6-2.

Halep, ranked No.2 in the world, was defeated in the semifinals of the US Open this month by eventual champion Flavia Pennetta of Italy.

In the day’s other upset, Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia defeated No.7 seed Danka Kovinic of Montenegro 6-4, 6-2.

No.3 seed Sara Errani of Italy, meanwhile, was pushed to three sets before defeating China’s Duan Ying-Ying 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

Fourth seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia beat Russia’s Elena Vesnina 7-6 (7/3), 6-3, taking the first set with a tiebreaker.

Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, seeded fifth, defeated Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova 6-4, 7-5

Sixth seed Monica Niculescu of Romania beat Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva 7-6 (7/5), 1-6, 6-3, needing a tiebreaker to win the first set.

And China’s top player Zheng Saisai, seeded eighth in the tournament, downed Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia 6-2, 6-1.

Navarro ends losing streak

In Tokyo, Carla Suarez Navarro ended her eight-match dry spell with a hard-earned 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 victory on Tuesday against Kateryna Bondarenko at the Pan Pacific Open.

It was the first victory for the 10th-ranked Spaniard since June and she suffered a first-round, straight-set defeat against the 83rd-ranked Bondarenko a week ago at the Japan Women’s Open Tennis.

Suarez Navarro said that defeat gave her the insights to gain victory Tuesday against the Ukrainian.

In other matches German fifth-seed Angelique Kerber crushed Daria Gavrilova of Russia 6-2, 6-2.

It was Kerber’s first appearance since her nail-biting US Open third-round showdown against Victoria Azarenka, when she lost but won much praise for her performance.

“I just try to take the confidence from the US Open to the next tournament here, for the Asia trip and for the next year,” she said.

The US Open match, Kerber said, showed that she can play “two or three hours on the high level.”

A Grand Slam victory appeared “so far away” but “I will try to keep working for that. You never what happens,” she said.

In other action, eighth-seed Belinda Bencic beat China’s Xi Yi-Fan 6-0, 6-0.

Samantha Stosur of Australia beat Alison Riske of the United States 4-6, 6-1, 6-3.

Top seed Begu advances

In Seoul, Romanian top seed Irina-Camelia Begu scored a comfortable victory over Ukrainian qualifier Kateryna Kozlova in the first round of the WTA Korea Open on Tuesday.

Begu, ranked 29th in the world, beat Kozlova in straight sets 6-2, 6-4 to set up a second-round meeting with Polona Hercog of Slovenia.

American third seed Sloane Stephens, ranked 32nd in the world, had little trouble against South Korean wildcard Han Na-Lae 6-1, 6-1.

Two other Americans also advanced to the second round, with fourth seed Varvara Lepchenko pushing aside Spain’s Paula Badosa 6-2, 6-3. Christina McHale led the first set 6-4 but was down 1-2 in the second when Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan abandoned the match.

Elizaveta Kulichkova of Russia needed three sets against Heather Watson of England to book her place in the second round 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic edged Irina Falconi of the United States 6-3, 2-6, 6-0, while Swedish veteran Johanna Larsson defeated Nicole Melichar of the United States 6-4, 6-2.