Birmingham, Jun 22 (AP) A finalist at the Birmingham Classic last year, Zhang Shuai of China was eliminated in the first round of the grass-court tournament as one of four seeded players to go out.

The seventh-seeded Zhang was beaten 6-4, 6-3 by 150th-ranked Emina Bektas of the United States in a little more than an hour in a big surprise at the WTA event.

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Zhang reached the 2022 final, only to retire because of injury in the first set to hand Beatriz Haddad Maia the title.

In second-round play, third-seeded Magda Linette of Poland was beaten 6-3, 6-0 by Zhu Lin of China, fifth-seeded Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine lost 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 to Britain's Harriet Dart, and sixth-seeded Bernarda Pera of the United States was ousted by Linda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic, 6-1, 7-6 (3).

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Playing a delayed first-round match, top-seeded Barbora Krejcikova beat Cristina Bucsa 6-3, 6-3. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)