MELBOURNE, Jan. 21 -- China's Wang Qiang progressed to the second round of the Australian Open on Tuesday after beating French wildcard Pauline Parmentier, 7-6 (2), 6-3.

Meanwhile Chinese players Wang Yafan and Peng Shuai bowed out of the competition despite fighting hard across three set matches to remain, with Peng suffering a debilitating leg cramp.

China's highest ranked player at the tournament, Wang Qiang, struggled to gain an advantage in the first set of her match against Parmentier, forcing a tiebreak and sending fans to the edge of their seats.

Both players showed immense power in the rally for the first point of the tiebreak, exchanging meaningful shots until the Frenchwoman finally fired one into the net -- to which Wang Qiang let out a cry of relief.

She told Xinhua after the match that the point was an important one and gave her the confidence to take control of the tiebreak and ultimately the match.

The Chinese player quickly steamed to a 4-0 advantage in the second set, and despite losing the first match point, her commanding lead proved unassailable.

"It's always difficult to play the first round of a tournament, so I had a difficult time in the first set and the end of the second set, but I think I handled it very well," Wang Qiang said.

Coming off the back of reaching the quarterfinals at last year's U.S. Open and beating world No. 1 Ash Barty, Wang Qiang said she was feeling more confident going into this tournament, but would play each match as it comes.

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