New Zealand tennis No.1 Marina Erakovic has had a first round win in her final WTA event of the year.
Marina Erakovic Photo: Photosport
Erakovic beat American Danielle Lao 6-3 6-4 In the first round of the Hawaiian Open in Honolulu.
Erakovic, who has a singles ranking at 107, now faces the tournament top seed and Chinese No.1 and World No.23 Zheng Shuai in the second round.
Queenstown's Ben McLachlan and Australian partner Jarryd Chaplin were knocked out of the first round of doubles at the Columbus, Ohio Challenger.
They were defeated by the British pair Luke Bambridge and Cameron Norrie 7-6(3) 3-6 10-7.
McLachlan ranked just inside the top 200 doubles players will now return to New Zealand and prepare for the NZ Tennis Champs from December 13-17 in Auckland.
-RNZ