WTA Madrid Open: Li Na and Agnieszka Radwanska progress

Li Na booked her place in the second round of the Madrid Open thanks to an encouraging 6-1 7-6(7) victory over Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens on Monday.

Australian Open champion Li saved two set points to eventually win the second-set tiebreak to set up a meeting with fellow Chinese player Zheng Jie in the second round.

Meanwhile, Agnieszka Radwanska also reached the second round with a 7-6(3) 6-2 win over Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard.

“The tiebreak was the biggest key,” said Radwanska, will face Svetlana Kuznetsova in round two.

“I did a couple of good shots in the tiebreak and managed to win that, and that gave me more confidence in the second set.”

Elsewhere, Kuznetsova beat Alize Cornet 6-3 4-6 6-1, Caroline Wozniacki was a 6-2 6-2 winner over Ekaterina Makarova, and Jelena Jankovic eased past Elina Svitolina 6-4 6-3.

A minute’s silence was held at the Magic Box’s Manolo Santana centre court before the evening match in remembrance of Elena Baltacha, the former British No1 who died of liver cancer on Sunday aged 30.