Zverev and Zheng win first-round matches at China Open, Cobolli knocked out

[p]The 29-year-old is the top seed in Beijing after world number one [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/sinner-jannik/6HdC3z4H/"]Jannik Sinner[/a], the reigning champion, withdrew due to injury.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/zverev-alexander/dGbUhw9m/"]Zverev[/a] hit 15 aces but did not have it all his own way [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/norrie-c-pvzhJGY8/zverev-a-dGbUhw9m/?mid=0I8uROz9"]against[/a] [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/norrie-cameron/pvzhJGY8/"]Norrie[/a], ranked 40th, who had some joy pushing the German around the court.[/p][p]The Briton came within a point of winning the first set, but the US Open champion closed out the game and capitalised in the tiebreak when Norrie fired long.[/p][p]Zverev was similarly clinical in the second set, which followed serve until he broke Norrie in the 10th game to take match point at the first time of asking.[/p][embed guid="86c684de-1c3a-4eef-ad25-25077630af4a" url="https://x.com/TennisTV/status/2105598077411144048" social-type="twitter" /][p]He will play either [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/shang-juncheng/tvjTgE3J/"]Shang Juncheng[/a] of China or [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/baez-sebastian/dd8jLjtO/"]Sebastian Baez[/a] of Argentina in the second round.[/p][p]"I'm really surprised and really happy with how I played," said Zverev, who only arrived in China from Europe two days ago after helping Team Europe to the Laver Cup.[/p][p]Earlier, Russia's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/safiullin-roman/IBpggNog/"]Roman Safiullin[/a] upset Italy's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/cobolli-flavio/zDtaCcPe/"]Flavio Cobolli[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/cobolli-f-zDtaCcPe/safiullin-r-IBpggNog/?mid=x2YK6fkf"]brushing aside the French Open finalist[/a] 6-3, 6-2 to set up a second-round tie against either [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/griekspoor-tallon/f3zfMU5i/"]Tallon Griekspoor[/a] or [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/rublev-andrey/AeAn4gP0/"]Andrey Rublev[/a].[/p][embed guid="3fb83bfb-1d2b-4980-9592-42f48e817a94" url="https://x.com/TennisTV/status/2105565906340299033" social-type="twitter" /][p]In the women's draw, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/zheng-qinwen/xCyEhjAS/"]Zheng Qinwen[/a] needed two hours and 44 minutes to hold off world number 231 [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/shi-han/WvwZpPTa/"]Shi Han[/a] in the first round, beating her compatriot [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/shi-h-WvwZpPTa/zheng-q-xCyEhjAS/?mid=QkqqzdWq"]7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-2.[/a][/p][p]Both women struggled to win points on the sun-baked side of a split-screen court but the Paris Olympic champion fought through 44 unforced errors to earn a meeting with Russia's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/kalinskaya-anna/KGdcQnEf/"]Anna Kalinskaya[/a].[/p][p]Zheng, the current world number 54, has struggled with form since needing elbow surgery last year, although she made the US Open quarter-finals as a qualifier.[/p][embed guid="5181ee8c-8599-485a-8763-0a9d2d5186a3" url="https://x.com/WTA/status/2105539052292182017" social-type="twitter" /]