Raducanu and Kartal reach China Open third round
Britain's Emma Raducanu and Sonay Kartal claimed straight-set wins to reach the third round of the China Open in Beijing.
British number one Raducanu was tested throughout by unseeded Spaniard Cristina Bucsa but battled to a 6-3 6-3 victory.
Kartal produced a powerful display to see off Australian 14th seed Daria Kasatkina 6-3 6-0 in little under an hour.
Kartal will meet Australian teenager Maya Joint in the last 32, while Raducanu faces American fifth seed Jessica Pegula.
World number 31 Raducanu, the 30th seed, managed only 16 winners to Bucsa's 28, but maintained the upper hand in the key exchanges.
She saved six break points in a competitive first set before winning the final two games to seemingly take charge of the match.
Raducanu won the opening two games of the second but, after missing the chance to go 3-0 up, was pegged back as Bucsa finally broke serve to draw level at 2-2.
She broke back immediately and won four of the final five games.
Raducanu, who had a bye in the first round, was playing for the first time since losing to Barbora Krejcikova in the quarter-finals of the Korea Open this month, when she missed three match points.
"I'm very happy to have gotten over it and after a tough one last week to bounce back," said Raducanu, before impressing the crowd by speaking Mandarin.
"I really want to do well here. I'm half-Chinese so it's great to come back."
Kartal powers past Kasatkina
British number three and world number 81 Kartal lost only five games in her first-round victory over Alycia Parks.
She produced an even more polished performance on Saturday, converting six of 11 break points to swat aside world number 20 Kasatkina.
It was Kartal's third victory this year over an opponent ranked in the top 20.
She will have to upset the odds again against 19-year-old Joint, who has won two WTA titles and is 45 places above Kartal in the rankings.
Top seed Iga Swiatek claimed a comfortable 6-0 6-3 victory over China's Yue Yuan to set up a third-round match against unseeded Colombian Camila Osorio.
Japan's Naomi Osaka, who reached the women's semi-finals of the US Open this month, suffered a shock 6-1 4-6 2-6 defeat by Belarusian world number 130 Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
