China's Zhu Lin returns the ball against South Korea's Jang Su-jeong during the women's singles round of 32 match at the WTA Korea Open tennis championships in Seoul on Sept 19, 2022. (JUNG YEON-JE / AFP)

SYDNEY - China's Zhu Lin on Tuesday suffered an early exit from the Hobart International 2023 after losing 6-2, 6-2 to Sophia Kenin of the United States in an opening-round clash at the Domain Tennis Center.

As the 2020 Australian Open winner and 2019 Hobart International singles champion, world No 143 Kenin received a wildcard to the WTA 250 tournament and reeled off straight-set wins over world No 85 Zhu in 77 minutes.

The bowing-out of Zhu made 21-year-old Wang Xinyu, who entered the main draw as the lucky loser and stormed into the second round on Monday by beating Australia's Olivia Gadecki 6-4, 7-5, China's only hope in the women's singles of the tournament.

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The bowing-out of Zhu Lin made Wang Xinyu, who entered the main draw as the lucky loser and stormed into the second round on Monday by beating Australia's Olivia Gadecki 6-4, 7-5, China's only hope in the women's singles of the tournament

When the clock ticked to nearly 11:00 pm local time on Tuesday night, the last match of the day concluded, with the seventh-seeded Magda Linette of Poland swallowing a narrow 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 defeat to lower-ranked Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium.

China's Wang and the world No 70 Belgian will square off on Wednesday for a spot in the quarterfinals.

Earlier, the center court saw world No 67 Elisabetta Cocciaretto of Italy stage an 6-4, 6-2 upset over world No. 34 Alize Cornet of France.

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The 21-year-old Italian delivered an impressive 75.4 percent of her first serves, ousting the third-seeded French veteran and the tournament's 2016 singles champion.   In women's doubles, world No. 71 Han Xinyun of China teamed up with Tamara Korpatsch of Germany, going down 7-6(2), 3-6, 5-10 to Alicia Barnett of Britain and Monica Niculescu of Romania.