Top seed Sara Errani fought back from the brink of defeat to beat outsider Han Xinyuan in the first round of the Guangzhou International Women's Open on Tuesday.

Errani looked set to lose her opening game at a fourth consecutive tournament, but saved five match points in a final-set tie-break to win 4-6 7-5 7-6 (8-6) against the world number 119.

Defending champion Jelena Jankovic coasted into the second round with a straight-sets demolition of You Xiaodi.

The second seed from Serbia lost only five points on serve and took just over an hour to see off outsider You 6-2 6-1 in a tournament which she won last year before going on to triumph at the Hong Kong Open in a strong finish to the season.

Zheng Saisai, the eighth seed, suffered a surprise first-round exit at the hands of compatriot Peng Shuai on home soil, with the world number 74 going down 4-6 6-2 6-3.

Katerina Siniakova was another seed to bow out after losing to Anett Kontaveit, but Sabine Lisicki and Viktorija Golubic were among the other winners on day two of the tournament.

In Seoul, top seed Irina-Camelia Begu started the defence of her Korea Open title by breezing past Jang Su-jeong 6-2 6-1.

Johanna Larsson, Zhang Shuai, Kristina Mladenovic, Monica Niculescu and Kirsten Flipkens also sealed their spots in round two.