First rounds complete in Russia (-1), Thailand

Early results from St Petersburg and Hua Hin.

Dominika Cibulkova, the seventh seed in St Petersburg, was a late withdrawal, and her place in the main draw was taken by lucky loser Katie Boulter.

WTA

St Petersburg 

First round Day One

• Maria Sharapova v Dasha Gavrilova

The form of Gavrilova this year has been terrible, with first round losses in Brisbane, Sydney and the Australian Open.

Sharapova, on the other hand, had made the quarters in Shenzhen and knocked out the defending champion, Wozniacki, in the Australian Open, reaching the round of sixteen.

St Petersburg was different, being indoors, and Sharapova hadn’t played the third before.

Nevertheless, the Russian broke the Australian (Born in Russia) in the opening game. 

When attempting to consolidate, Sharapova took eighteen exasperating minutes, but eventually did so, to the immense disappointment of Gavrilova who failed to win a solitary game for the set, though not for the lack of trying.

The feisty Australian came back strongly in set two, even in most rallies, in fact cashing in on the weaker Sharapova serve to break and lead 4-2 at one stage.

However, it was too good to last, and Sharapova swamped Gavrilova with a bigger serve and a greater variety of shots, taking the final four games to win 6-0 6-4

• Wildcard Vera Zvonareva defeated fellow wildcard and compatriot Russian Ekaterina Makarova 6-3 6-3
• Alison Van Uytvanck defeated fellow Belgian Kirsten Flipkens 6-2 6-4

First round Day Two

• Wildcard Vika Azarenka defeated qualifier Margarita Gasparyan 6-4 6-1
• Lucky loser Veronika Kudermetova defeated wildcard Olga Danilovic 6-2 6-1
• Donna Vekic (8) defeated Timea Bacsinszky 4-6 6-1 6-3
• Julia Goerges (5) defeated Maria Sakkari 6-2 7-5
• Qualifier Tereza Martincova defeated Yulia Putintseva 4-6 6-2 6-2
• Jelena Ostapenko (6) defeated last years runner-up Kristina Mladenovic 6-1 0-6 6-0
• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova defeated Alizé Cornet 7-5 7-6(4)
• Qualifier Ysaline Bonaventure defeated Katerina Siniakova 6-4 7-6(3)

Hua Hin

First round Day One

• Mona Barthel defeated Fiona Ferro 6-1 1-6 6-4
• Wildcard Shuai Peng defeated qualifier Chloe Paquet 6-2 6-3
• Dayana Yastremska (8) defeated qualifier Arantxa Rus 6-0 6-3
• Monica Niculescu defeated Su-Wei Hsieh (3) 6-4 7-6(2)
• Magda Linette defeated qualifier Priscilla Hon 6-1 2-6 6-2
• Kateryna Kozlova defeated qualifier Conny Perrin 6-4 3-6 6-3
• Irina-Camelia Begu defeated Evgeniya Rodina 6-2 6-0

First round Day Two 

• Garbiñe Muguruza (1) defeated wildcard Sabine Lisicki 6-3 6-4
• Yafan Wang defeated Anna Blinkova 5-7 6-2 6-1
• Shuai Zhang (5) defeated Luksika Kumkhum 6-2 6-1
• Saisai Zheng (4) defeated Mandy Minella 6-7(8) 6-4 6-4
• Qualifier Yingying Duan defeated Pauline Parmentier (7) 1-6 6-3 6-4
• Viktorija Golubic defeated Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-2 6-4
• Tamara Zidansek defeated Timea Babos 6-0 3-1 (retired)
• Qualifier Jennifer Brady defeated wildcard Caroline Garcia (2) 6-4 7-6(3)