Charley Hull wins, Nelly Korda ties on first day of LPGA Tour's T-Mobile Match Play in Las Vegas

Charley Hull won, Nelly Korda tied and Lydia Ko lost on a mixed opening day for the big names at the LPGA Tour's T-Mobile Match Play in Las Vegas.

The match-play tournament at Shadow Creek Golf Course sees the 64-player field split into 16 groups with round-robin matches played across three days. The 16 group winners then progress to the weekend's knockout ties, starting with the quarter-finals on Saturday.

England's Hull took an early lead of Group Six after a 5&3 win over American Alexa Pano. Hull was quickly two-up in the space of three holes, and while Pano was back level by the sixth, the former raced away on the back nine, winning five consecutive holes from the 11th to 15th to secure the match with three holes to spare.

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But defending champion Korda was pegged back by her opponent, Brittany Altomare, in the closing holes of their match despite the world No 1 having been two-up with four to play.

Altomare had taken an early lead in the encounter after Korda bogied the par-four second but the world's top player was back level by the fourth and was eventually two-up by the 14th.

But back-to-back bogeys at the 15th and 16th holes proved costly, with the final two holes of the match tied.

Both players trail Ariya Jutanugarn in Group One after she beat Jennifer Kupcho 3&2.

"To end up in a tie was a win for me," Altomare, who has returned to the tour this year after maternity leave, said.

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"Nelly is a great player, obviously world No 1, and a great person.

"It was a lot of fun out there. I felt like I got to watch her play too, and just see where my game is and what I need to improve on."

Ko, meanwhile, also lost her opening match, the New Zealander defeated 6&4 by Australian Hira Naveed. Ireland's Leona Maguire also suffered an opening-day defeat, thrashed 6&5 by Canada's Brooke Henderson.

But Wednesday's most one-sided scoreline came in Group Nine as South Korea's Kim Hyo-Joo delivered a crushing 8&7 defeat of Bailey Tardy.

And in the day's most topsy-turvy match, Albane Valenzuela was five down at the turn to Megan Khang before she stormed back to level the match through 16 holes. Khang had to get up-and-down from behind the 17th green to avoid falling behind, before taking victory on the 18th.

Khang was still in the fairway playing her third shot and judged it perfectly off a backstop, the ball rolling out to four feet for a chance at par. Valenzuela went from a bunker to the back of the green, facing a 60-foot putt with a steep ridge halfway to the hole.

Her putt was an inch from catching the ridge. Her par putt had no chance and rolled out 12 feet, before she missed the bogey putt and conceded the match.

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