Daria Saville's encouraging run at the Hong Kong Open has been ended by No.3 seed Elise Mertens, who beat the Australian qualifier in straight sets

The world No.41-ranked Belgian beat Saville 6-1 6-4 on Wednesday to set up a meeting with another qualifier, Sofya Lanser.

But there has been plenty of plus points in Hong Kong for 29-year-old Saville, who only returned to action in June after nine months out recovering from a torn ACL.

She came through qualifying to reach the main draw before beating Slovenia's Dalila Jakupovic in three sets.

However, Mertens won all four of her break points for a clear-cut victory over Saville, now ranked No.211 but a former world top-20 player.

Fellow Australian Priscilla Hon's run also ended with a 6-1 6-3 defeat in the second round against No.5 seed Anna Blinkova.

Beatriz Haddad-Maia, the No.2 seed, won two tiebreakers on her way to a three-set victory over Aliaksandra Sasnovich in three-and-a-half hours.

Other first-round winners included Sara Sorribes Tormo, Magdalena Frech and Alina Korneeva.

Local favourite Zheng Qinwen beat the top seed, Maria Sakkari, in straight sets to advance to the quarter-finals of the Zhengzhou Open.

Zheng will next play Anhelina Kalinina, who defeated qualifier Vera Zvonareva 7-5 6-1.

Jasmine Paolini saved four match points as she clinched an unlikely victory against world No.10 Caroline Garcia in three sets.

Ons Jabeur plays her first match of the tournament on Thursday against Lucia Bronzetti.

Meanwhile, Yanina Wickmayer eliminated third-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova in straight set to move into the quarter-finals of the Korea Open.

The Belgian, the world No.83, will meet Polina Kudermetova, who defeated Kathinka von Deichmann 6-3 6-1, on Friday.

Top seed Jessica Pegula plays her second-round match against fellow American Ashlyn Krueger on Thursday. Australia's Kimberley Birrell is also in action against South Korea's Back Da-yeon.