British player Harriet Dart, seeded second in qualifying, defeated France's Tiphanie Lemaître 6-2, 6-3 in the first round of qualifying at the WTA 1000 event in Beijing. The match was completed in straight sets, and Dart will continue her bid for a place in the main draw. The tournament is being played on hard courts with a prize fund of $9.4 million, according to api.tennis.
Dart took the first set 6-2. In the second set Lemaître stayed closer, but the outcome remained the same as the Briton closed it out 6-3. Neither set went to a tiebreak, and Lemaître was never able to force a real fight for a set.
Form and opponents
Dart is ranked 112th in the world with 647 points, according to rank.tennis. Lemaître entered qualifying unseeded.
Before Beijing, the Frenchwoman played at the tournament in Hechal, where she reached the quarterfinals. There she beat Valentina Ivanov 6-4, 6-4 and Lea Bošković 6-4, 7-5, before losing to Charo Esquiva Bagnuls. In their head-to-head history, Dart leads Lemaître 1-0.