AFC Women's Asian Cup
Iran will next face Bhutan on Sunday while Singapore - who suffered a second consecutive defeat - will meet Jordan on the same day.
Iran started on the front foot with Fatemeh Adeli miscuing an attempt in the seventh minute following a corner, while Afsaneh Chatrenoor saw her headed effort off a counter-attack miss the target moments later.
Singapore continued to live dangerously with keeper Izairida Shakira needing to intervene in the 10th minute to parry Fatemeh Shaban’s cross before Zahra Ghanbari sent a looping shot from just outside the box just wide of the left post.
Iran broke the deadlock in the 18th minute after Singapore failed to deal with Ghanbari’s corner after Yasmine Zaharin nodded her clearance into the path of Fatemeh Shaban whose left footed shot sailed past Shakira.
The Central Asian side thought they had earned a penalty when Qarissa Putri looked to have handled the ball inside the area but Singapore were instead awarded a goal kick.
Singapore continued to soak the pressure and were let off the hook in the 37th minute when Fatemeh Pasandideh’s attempt from outside the box was denied by the woodwork.
The second half resumed with Iran extending their lead two minutes in when substitute Zahira Alizadeh evaded her marker at the edge of the area before setting up Sara Didar to slot the ball home.
Shakira then had to be on her toes six minutes later to keep out Negin Zandi’s glancing header off Ghanbari’s set-piece but Iran’s pressure was too much for Singapore to take as they conceded again in the 77th minute.
Atefeh Imani played the ball into space for Zahra Sarbali, whose shot from an acute angle led to Singapore’s Yasmine Zaharin turning the ball into her own net.
Iran capped their fine start in the 86th minute courtesy of Ghanbari, who exchanged passes with Didar before storming into the box and executing a composed finish.
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