Valeria Savinykh of Russia beat Spain's Irene Burillo 6-4 6-4 in the first round of qualifying at the WTA 1000 tournament in Beijing to advance to the next round of the draw. The tournament is played on hard courts and has a prize fund of $9.4 million. Savinykh entered unseeded, while Burillo was the 20th seed in qualifying.
Two identical sets
The match was decided in two sets, both of which finished with the same 6-4 scoreline in the Russian's favor. Burillo was unable to force a deciding third set, with the match ending 2-0 in sets, according to api.tennis.
The result looks surprising given the players' rankings. According to rank.tennis, Savinykh sits at 558th with 85 points, while Burillo is ranked 205th with 364 points. This was the pair's only official meeting, with Savinykh now leading their head-to-head 1-0.
Ahead of Beijing, Savinykh competed in Vancouver, where she beat Mia Kupres 6-4 6-0 in the first round before losing to Emma Si Yu Dong 3-6 2-6 in the second. In Jingshan, she lost in the first round to Ekaterina Reingold 1-6 2-6. Burillo arrived from Valencia, where she lost in the quarterfinals to Alicia Herrero Liñana 2-6 1-6, while in doubles she won her semifinal alongside a partner against the pairing of Despina Papamichail and Eva Vedder 6-4 6-2 before falling in the final to Dalila Jakupović and Naima Karamoko 2-6 3-6.