China Open: Samsonova downs Alycia Parks to reach the last 32

Russian Liudmila Samsonova moved into the 32 of the China Open by winning against American Alycia Parks 6-4, 7-6 (4).

In the final 1000-level event on the WTA, first-round matches are already underway in Beijing, as a stacked field competes to reach the second week of the competition.

There are four players who are already into the last 32, however. Pegula, Sakkari, Pavlyuchenkova and Kudermetova have all received bye courtesy of a new rule allowing byes based on recent performance.

Samsonova, ranked No 22, will play the winner of the match between No 12 seed Petra Kvitova and Chinese wildcard Xiyu Wang next.