MELBOURNE, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- China's Gao Xinyu and Wei Sijia are one step closer to reaching the main draw at the Australian Open after winning their opening qualifying matches on Tuesday.
Gao continued her form from the United Cup, where she helped team China reach the quarterfinals, with a dominant 6-0, 6-0 win against Anouk Koevermans of the Netherlands in 63 minutes at Melbourne Park.
The Chinese 27-year-old, who rose in the rankings from 175 to a career-high 146 following the United Cup, equaled Koevermans' 10 winners for the match but hit only seven unforced errors compared to her opponent's 32.
She will be joined in the second round by Wei, who beat Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 in two hours and 11 minutes.
Wei, the 25th seed in the qualifying tournament, broke Sasnovich's serve seven times from nine opportunities in the match.
In other matches, China's Zhu Lin was defeated 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 by France's Selena Janicijevic, while China's Shi Han went down against Jil Teichmann 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.
The 19-year-old Shi was trailing 2-5 in the opening set before winning five consecutive games to win it but could not maintain the level against the more experienced Teichmann.
Gao will play Croatia's Petra Martic in the second round of the qualifying tournament on Wednesday, with Wei to face Tamara Korpatsch of Germany.
Players must win three matches at the qualifying tournament to reach the main draw at the Australian Open, which begins at Melbourne Park on Sunday. ■
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