PUERTO RICO’S Monica Puig upset No. 2 seed Andrea Petkovic of Germany in the Guangzhou Open first round Tuesday.

    The unseeded Puig defeated Petkovic 6-1, 6-4 in the biggest upset of the day in South China’s Guangdong Province.

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

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

    World No. 2 Halep lost in the U.S. Open semifinals this month to 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.

    Third seed Sara Errani of Italy, meanwhile, was pushed to three sets before beating China’s Duan Yingying 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

    Fourth seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia beat Russia’s Elena Vesnina 7-6 (3), 6-3 while Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, seeded fifth, defeated Slovak Daniela Hantuchova 6-4, 7-5

    Sixth seed Monica Niculescu of Romania saw off Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva 7-6 (5), 1-6, 6-3. And China’s top player Zheng Saisai, seeded eighth in the tournament, downed Serb Aleksandra Krunic 6-2, 6-1.

    In Tokyo, Germany’s Angelique Kerber advanced to the second round of the Tokyo Pan Pacific Open yesterday following a 6-2, 6-2 win over Daria Gavrilova of Russia.

    The fifth-seeded Kerber converted the second of six break points against Gavrilova to close out the match in just over an hour. It was her fourth win over the Russian this year.

    Kerber next faces Madison Brengle of the United States, who beat Kazakh Zarina Diyas with an identical 6-2, 6-2 score.

    In other first-round matches, sixth-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain beat Kateryna Bondarenko 7-6 (3), 6-2, former U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur of Australia ousted Alison Riske 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, and Croatian Ana Konjuh survived France’s Kristina Mladenovic 6-0, 3-6, 6-3.(SD-Agencies)