Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the quarter-finals of the singles at the Japan Open yesterday, while the Chan sisters booked a spot in the semi-finals of the doubles.
Hsieh defeated familiar foe Kurumi Nara 6-2, 6-4 in 1 hour 11 minutes at the Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo.
The Taiwanese world No. 113 now has a 5-1 career record against the Japanese world No. 78, her only loss their previous meeting in Rio de Janeiro last year.
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Hsieh saved three of four break points and converted four of seven, winning 65 of the 112 points contested to set up a quarter-final against world No. 84 Magda Linette of Poland, who upset second seed Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan 6-2, 7-5 earlier on Center Court.
Linette’s victory left Madison Brengle of the US as the highest-ranked player at the tournament, although the world No. 42 faces a tricky test in the last eight today against Croatia’s Ajla Tomljanovic.
In other second-round singles results, Ukraine’s Kateryna Bondarenko beat Australian Jarmila Gajdosova 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 in a seesaw match, while there was joy for China too, with Zheng Saisai brushing aside Irina Falconi of the US 6-4, 6-2 in the late match.
In the doubles, top seeds Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan resumed their rain-delayed quarterfinal against Diyas and Nicole Melichar of the US leading 3-1 and spent just 40 minutes completing a 6-1, 6-3 victory.
The Taiwanese sisters saved all three break points they faced and converted four of eight, winning 55 of the 88 points contested to advance to a clash with Ukrainian duo Bondarenko and Olga Savchuk today after second seeds Chuang Chia-jung of Taiwan and Liang Chen of China take on Japanese pairing Misaki Doi and Nara in the other semi-final.
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