INDIAN WELLS, California, March 5 (Xinhua) -- China's Wang Xinyu progressed to the second round of WTA 1000 event at Indian Wells on Wednesday with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Egypt's Mayar Sherif.
Wang won 81 percent of her first-serve points and converted four of eight break points to prevail in two hours and three minutes.
The 23-year-old's next opponent will be Latvia's world No. 26 Jelena Ostapenko, who had a bye in the first round.
World No. 42 Wang will be one of two Chinese women to feature in the second round of the WTA 1000 event on Friday, joining eighth seed Zheng Qinwen, who is due to face Belarusian Victoria Azarenka.
Earlier on Wednesday, two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova suffered a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 loss to 70th-ranked Varvara Gracheva of France.
Kvitova, who won Wimbledon in 2011 and 2014, is still searching for her first victory since returning from a 16-month break in which she gave birth to her first child.
"I really want to congratulate her," Gracheva said in an on-court interview. "She had a child quite recently, and I'm so happy that she now has the role of a mother and a tennis player, which is very demanding. It's very inspiring for sports, athletes, women - it's just amazing. Petra, my admiration to you. You're the best."
Gracheva will meet Russian teenager and ninth seed Mirra Andreeva in the next round. ■
