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Top seed and defending champion Elina Svitolina needed just less than 90 minutes on Tuesday to dispatch her first-round opponent Su Jeong Jang at the Alya WTA Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur. The 22-year-old Ukranian defeated the South Korean, 6-2, 6-3 to advance to the second round where she will face Japan's Nao Hibino, who advanced on Monday by defeating Belgium's Maryna Zanevska 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.
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Svitolina, the 10th ranked player in the world, dominated the match winning 71 percent of her first serves on her way to the easy win. She recorded three aces and did not double fault.
The No. 2 and No. 3 seeds both fell in the first round.
Miyu Kato, a qualifier from Japan, ousted Carla Suarez Navarro, the second seed, in three sets, 2-6, 6-1, 6-3. Kato was ranked 201st at the start of the tournament while Navarro was ranked 25th.
No. 23 in the world and third-seeded Caroline Garcia of France, fell to another qualifier Anna Kalinskaya of Russia, 7-5, 6-2.
Fourth seed Shuai Peng of China was a straight set winner over Chinese-Taipei's Kai-Chen Chang, 6-1, 6-4. Sixth-seeded Qiang Wang also was a straight-set winner as she defeated Serbia's Nina Stojanovic, 6-1, 6-3.
