ZHUHAI, China -- Second-seeded CoCo Vandeweghe has opened the WTA Elite Trophy tournament with a comeback 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Chinese wild-card entry Peng Shuai.
Vandeweghe overcame a slow start and two service breaks in the first set Tuesday, recovering to finish with six aces and convert five of her eight breakpoint chances against Peng in the Bougainvillea group.
“The match was very difficult for me. I wasn’t really making good contact with the ball, wasn’t really making enough balls in court, and I was just very sloppy at the start,” Vandeweghe said. “That allowed her to start well into the match, and I just had to keep fighting my way back.”
Seventh-seeded Julia Goerges opened with a 6-1, 7-6 (5) win over No. 10 Magdalena Rybarakova in the Azalea group.
The tournament in Zhuhai features the leading players on the women’s tour who didn’t qualify for the WTA Finals in Singapore last week, in addition to the wildcard awarded to Peng. The 12-player draw is divided into four groups.
Angelique Kerber, who finished 2016 at No. 1 in the rankings, was playing fourth-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuenkova in a night match in the Rose group.
