Bouchard beaten as top two progress in Beijing

EugenieBouchard

The Canadian number eight seed occupied fifth place on the Road to Singapore rankings ahead of the WTA Premier event in Beijing.

However, Bouchard came unstuck against the German, double-faulting 11 times on her way to a 6-2 6-4 defeat that leaves her place in the end-of-season showpiece in the balance. 

Angelique Kerber compounded a disappointing day for Bouchard by boosting her hopes of a berth in Singapore, while outside hopeful Ekaterina Makarova did the same. 

Seventh seed Kerber succesfully avoided an upset as she wrapped up a 6-3 6-1 win over Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan in just over an hour.

Kerber now needs to win the tournament for Bouchard to be denied a place at the WTA Finals, while 12th seed Makarova will meet Roberta Vinci next after proving too strong for Slovenian qualifier Polona Hercog.

Makarova reeled off the last eight games to beat Hercog for a third consecutive match and keep her Singapore hopes alive.

Vinci was a surprise winner over fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska, edging the Polish world number six for the first time in four meetings. 

Top two Serena Williams and Simona Halep are safely through to the third round, with the former rounding off the action at the National Tennis Center.

Defending champion Serena was forced to fight back from 5-0 down in the first set against Silvia Soler-Espinosa on Monday, but enjoyed a much simpler outing against Tsvetana Pironkova.

Williams won 70 per cent of her first service points to move past the Bulgarian while second seed Halep came through a testing encounter 7-5 6-4 against wildcard Lin Zhu.

Fourth seed Maria Sharapova continued her return to form, following a disappointing third-round exit in Wuhan, with a 6-2 6-2 success against Elina Svitolina of Ukraine. 

Sharapova will face Carla Suarez Navarro next while ninth seed Ana Ivanovic remains on course for a fifth WTA singles title of the year after defeating Switzerland's Romina Oprandi 6-4 6-2.

Elsewhere, there were straight-sets wins for Venus Williams over Caroline Garcia and Andrea Petkovic against Madison Keys.

Svetlana Kuznetsova saw off Kurumi Nara 6-3 6-1, with Lucie Safarova proving too strong for Mona Barthel.

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