Romania's Simona Halep eases into second round of China Open

Romanian tennis star Simona Halep showcased a rich vein of form as she eased past Rebecca Peterson of Sweden in straight sets to book her place in the second round of the China Open in Beijing on Sunday. 

Halep, who was recently forced to retire from the Wuhan Open due to a chronic back problem, hardly broke a sweat en route to her comfortable 6-1, 6-1 triumph over her Swedish opponent in a one-sided opening round clash that lasted one hour and 11 minutes. 

Earlier, the two-time Grand Slam champion was forced to withdraw from the Wuhan Open owing to a back injury during the opening set of the round-of-16 clash against Russia's Elena Rybakina.

Elsewhere, American tennis star Venus Williams rebounded strongly from the second set down against Barbora Strycova of Czech Republic to storm into the next round of the women's singles event of the tournament.

After comfortably winning the opening set, the former world number one failed to capitalise on the same and went down in the second before she bounced back strongly to register a 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 against Strycova in the encounter that lasted two hours and 31 minutes. 

Williams will now square off with Swiss tennis star Belinda Bencic for a place in the third round of the tournament.