TOKYO — Third-seeded Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan defeated Maria Sakkari of Greece 6-4, 6-3 on Wednesday to advance to the second round of the Japan Open.
Putintseva, whose first-round match was rained out on Tuesday, saved six of eight break points she faced and will next play local favourite Karumi Nara.
Varvara Lepchenko of the United States ousted fourth-seeded Johanna Larsson of Sweden 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 to advance to the quarterfinals.
In other first-round matches, Naomi Osaka of Japan beat Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit 6-0, 6-2, and Magda Linette of Poland overpowered Japanese qualifier Erika Sema 6-1, 6-0.
