Monica Niculescu and Alison Riske were both made to work hard for their places in the second round of the Shenzhen Open.

Seventh seed Niculescu came from a set down to defeat wildcard Zhang Kai-lin 5-7 6-1 6-3, with her fellow Romanian Sorana Cirstea beating Kristina Kucova in three sets.

Meanwhile Riske, seeded eighth in south-eastern China, also had trouble with a wildcard from the host nation, needing two tie-breaks to overcome Zhu Lin 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-5).

One home hope who did enjoy success was Wang Qiang, a 6-2 6-3 winner over Evgeniya Rodina.

Elsewhere in the draw there were wins for Tsvetana Pironkova and Vania King.