Home favourite Kurumi Nara beat Yulia Putintseva 6-2 6-2 to reach the quarter finals at the Tokyo Japan’s Open WTA International Tournament.
Nara dropped her serve at the start of the opening set but broke straight back. Both players traded breaks in the third and four games. Nara got two breaks in the sixth and eighth games to clinch the first set when Putintseva did not hold a single service game. The Kazakh player earned three break points in the first game of the second set but Nara saved all three opportunities to hold her serve. The Japanese player got a double break in the second and eighth games to secure the second set 6-2.
Shuai Zhang beat Naomi Osaka 6-3 6-2 setting up a quarter final against Varvara Lepchenko, who beat Johanna Larsson yesterday. Zhang fended off four of the five break point chances she faced.
Zhang broke serve as Osaka hit her forehand into the net. The Japanese player clawed her way back to 3-4 but dropped the final two games to lose the first set. Zhang hit a series of groundstrokes before a forehand onto the baseline to break serve. She got another break to seal the second set.
Alison Riske cruised past Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-3 6-1. Riske broke three times and held her two service games to take the first set. Sasnovich held her only service game to love in the second set but Riske broke three times to clinch the second set.
Christina McHale came back from one set down to battle past Rebecca Peterson 2-6 6-2 7-6 (7-4). McHale came within two points of defeat in the third set before taking the win in the tie-break.
McHale will face Swiss emerging star Victorija Golubic, who beat last year’s finalist Magda Linette in three sets 6-2 6-7 (5-7) 6-3. Golubic broke twice to race out a 3-0 lead en route to winning the first set. Linette got one of the two breaks back in the fourth game but Golubic broke for the third time in the seventh game to win the first set 6-2.
There were four breaks in the first five games of the second set (three for Golubic and one for Linette). Golubic raced out to a 4-1 lead but Linette got both breaks back in the sixth and eighth games to draw level to 4-4. The second set came down to the tie-break where Linette prevailed 7-5.
Golubic rallied from 1-3 down by winning five games to win the third set 6-3 after 2 hours and 32 minutes.
