No. 3 seed Agnieszka Radwanska defused Russian Ekaterina Makarova on Tuesday to register her first win in three attempts at the Wuhan Open.
Makarova's powerful game proved potent early on, but was ultimately trumped by Radwanska's consistency and court craft. The Pole, who ended with just five unforced errors, won eight of the last nine games to close out a 6-4, 6-1 victory, which moved her into the third round due to her first round bye.
As Makarova pressed the action, Radwanska seemed content to soak up the pressure and bide her time before striking with her signature energy.
After snatching the first set with a break in the ninth game, Radwanska took charge by breaking to love at the start of the second.
Over the past 24 months, Radwanska has enjoyed great success in Asia, picking up hardware in Shenzhen, Tianjin, Tokyo and, famously, at the Singapore WTA Finals.
Surprisingly, success in Wuhan has proven harder to come by. In fact, her two visits have both ended at the first hurdle, to Venus Williams of the United States and Caroline Garcia of France, respectively. "I just hope I can play some more great tennis in China and I hope I can win the next round," Radwanska said.
Her opponent there could well be Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, who last week produced a stunning comeback against the Pole en route to the Tokyo title.
"We always play good matches, so I'm not expecting it to be easy. We just played three hours in Tokyo, so we could have another battle in front of us," she said.
Makarova's compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova safely made her way into the third round, dispatching Madison Brengle of the United States 6-0, 6-4.
Italian Roberta Vinci had to settle with a second round finish here as the 13th seeded player lost to Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 7-5, 6-2.
Czech Petra Kvitova, the 2014 tournament champion, eased past Ukraine's Elina Svitolina 6-3, 6-1, while Russian qualifier Daria Kasatkina breezed off America's Louisa Chirico 6-1, 6-1.
