Petra Kvitova cruised to the third round while Eugenie Bouchard and Angelique Kerber came back a set down to win their respective matches at the Wuhan Open in China on Tuesday.

Two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova got off to a nice start as she broke Italian qualifier Karin Knapp once in the first set to take it at 6-3.

Like Us on Facebook

The third seeded Kvitova was relentless in the second set as she shut out the Tashkent Open champion to win the set and the match 6-3 6-0.

Kvitova now heads to the third round in an all-Czech matchup with recent Kia Korea Open champion Karolina Pliskova.

Canadian star Bouchard dropped the first set against Mona Barthel of Germany and broke Barthel once in two sets to win the match 4-6 6-3 6-4.

The 20-year-old Wimbledon finalist faces American Alison Riske in the next round.

Seventh seed Angelique Kerber got a scare from Kazakhstan qualifier Zarina Diyas as she lost the first set and rallied the next two sets to capture the match 4-6 6-2 6-4.

Kerber, 26, will next meet Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova who also survived a three set matchup against teenager Madison Keys of the United States 3-6 6-2 6-2.

The first edition of the tournament suffered a blow as China's Li Na withdrew after she announced her retirement and had a number of top seeds leaving early, such as World No. 1 Serena Williams, second seed Simona Halep and fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska.

The race for the US$441,000 first-place prize is now open with a possible Bouchard and Maria Sharapova matchup, and a Kvitova-Kerber encounter in the semifinals.

The inaugural event will be followed by a WTA Premiere Mandatory tournament, the 16^th edition of the China Open where Williams is the defending champion, at the National Tennis Center in Beijing starting Sept. 29.

TagsAngelique Kerber