Cibulkova is quick winner in China

GUANGZHOU, China, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- Fourth-seeded Dominika Cibulkova breezed to an easy first-round victory Wednesday at the $175,000 Guangzhou International tennis tournament in China.

Because of rain delays earlier in the week, 12 first-round matches were crammed into Wednesday's action. Cibulkova did her part to speed things up with a quick 6-0, 6-3, rout of Tatiana Poutchek.

Three seeded players were out of the tournament after Wednesday, however. Qualifier Julie Ditty dropped fifth-seeded Olga Poutchkova, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4; No. 7-seed Lourdes Dominquez Lino lost a 6-2, 6-4, match to Ioana Raluca Olaru; and Camille Pin advanced when eighth-seeded Alla Kudryavtseva --who was trailing 6-1, 4-1 -- withdrew with a knee injury.

Sixth-seeded Olga Govortsova moved into the second round, beating Jarmila Gajdosova, 6-1, 6-3.

The Chinese crowd had something to cheer about, with wins by three local favorites. Zi Yan topped Vania King, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5); Shanshan Song defeated Chunmei Ji, 6-3, 6-2; and Tiantian Sun won, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), 7-5, over Raquel Kops-Jones.

Anastassia Rodionova, Tzipora Obziler, Alicia Molik and Virginia Ruano Pascual also won their first-round matches.

The Guangzhou International champion will earn $25,855.