Katie Boulter fought lengthy and arduous in opposition to Beatriz Haddad Maia however fell in straight units, whereas Barbora Krejcikova and Anna Kalinskaya additionally superior to the Final 8 in Ningbo, and 4 qualifiers and 1 fortunate loser make the quarters in Osaka, an Open Period first…
China | WTA 500 Ningbo Open
Brazil’s Beatrice Haddad Maia scored her first win in 4 conferences over British No 1 Katie Boulter to advance to her seventh quarter-final of 2024.
Having misplaced to Boulter 3 occasions in 2024 already, as soon as through retirement, the sixth seed lastly received the higher of the Brit, 7-6(2) 7-5, and can play Spain’s Paula Badosa within the Final 8.
The Brazilian dominated a primary set tiebreak following a fair begin, after which broke Boulter within the eleventh sport of the second set earlier than holding serve to win the match.
Ranked 35 on the earth, 28-year outdated Boulter, who has 3 profession singles titles to her identify, stayed with Haddad Maia via the primary set, with neither going through a break level, however the Brazilian took cost and dominated within the breaker, earlier than breaking to start out the second.
Boulter hit again to degree at 2-2, and appeared the extra more likely to forge forward, however Haddad Maia saved 3 extra break factors, and the Brit paid for two double-faults, permitting the left-handed Brazilian to serve out the win after 2 hours and 26 minutes.
Czech 4th seed, Barbora Krejcikova, reached her sixth quarter-final of 2024 by defeating fortunate loser Ma Ye-Xin from China, 7-6(5) 6-3, to open her account in Ningbo.
The win was simply Krejcikova’s second for the reason that Paris Olympic Video games, and he or she subsequent faces 17-year outdated Mirra Andreeva from Russia for a spot within the Final 4.
One other Russian, Anna Kalinskaya, the seventh seed, reached her 4th quarter-final of the season, and her first since Berlin in June, with a straight-sets defeat of China’s Yuan Yue, 6-3 6-3.
Kalinskaya advances to fulfill Czech Karolina Muchova, who improved to 3-0 total in opposition to Romanian Jaqueline Cristian, yet one more fortunate loser, with a 6-2 6-1 win in 77 minutes.
Qualifier Kimberly Birrell superior to the quarter-finals in Osaka when No 3 seed Elise Mertens retired harm within the third set on Thursday
© Lintao Zhang/Getty Pictures
Osaka | WTA 250 Kinoshita Group Japan Open
Australian qualifier Kimberly Birrell superior to her 2nd WTA quarter-final of the 12 months in Osaka, when the No 3 seed, Elise Mertens from Belgium, was pressured to retire on account of damage within the third set of their 2nd-round match, with the rating standing at 3-6 7-5, 4-1 (Retired) in favour of the Aussie.
One other qualifier, Ana Bogdan from Romania, additionally superior to the quarters on Thursday, upsetting No 4 seed Marie Bouzkova from the Czech Republic, 6-0 7-6(5).
Bogdan led by 6-0, 4-2 and triple break level earlier than Bouzkova mounted a come-back, however the Romanian held on to take the second-set tiebreak, and prevailed in just below 2 hours.
French seventh seed Diane Parry took 85 minutes to dismiss one other Belgian, Greet Minnen, 6-4 6-2, and can meet Denmark’s Clara Tauson within the quarter-finals.
Tauson dispatched Britain’s Harriet Dart, 6-3 6-2, on Wednesday.
Japanese wild-card Sara Saito upset Elina Avanesyan of Armenia to achieve the Final 8 on her WTA debut.
Saito grew to become the second Japanese participant to achieve the quarters after the 18-year-old took down the No 5 seed, 7-6(2) 6-4, saving 2 set factors within the first set, for her first Prime 50 win.
Each Saito and 20-year-old Aoi Ito are making their WTA main-draw debuts in Osaka, and are rising abilities.
They’re the 2 youngest Japanese gamers within the draw, which is a promising signal for the way forward for Japanese tennis.
They play contrasting kinds of tennis, with Ito’s unorthodox mixture of slices and finesse impressed by Hsieh Su-Wei, whereas Saito is the extra typical of the 2, along with her neat groundstroke method and excellent redirections of tempo on present in opposition to Avanesyan in what she described afterwards as ‘an ideal match’.
Saito is a former junior No 2 who reached 3 women’ doubles Grand Slam finals in 2023, and he or she has reduce her rating from No 364 at first of the 12 months to 179 this week.
Ito was ranked 420 this time final 12 months, and is now sitting at No 188.
The slew of upsets in Osaka signifies that just one seed, Parry, has made it into the quarter-finals, whereas 5 gamers who got here via qualifying, 4 qualifiers and 1 fortunate loser, are additionally within the Final 8, an Open Period first.
