WTA Spherical-up | Boulter bolts previous Okamura in Tokyo, as seeds topple in Guangzhou

The WTA occasions in Japan and China full their quarter-final line-ups on Thursday…

I am enjoying some good tennis. It is a free swing for me on the finish of the yr, and I’ve nothing to lose. Katie Boulter

Tokyo | WTA 500 Toray Pan Pacific Open

British No 1 Katie Boulter charged previous Kyoka Okamura into her 4th WTA quarter-final this yr on the Toray Pan Pacific Open alongside prime seed Zheng Qinwen, Daria Kasatkina and Sofia Kenin in Tokyo on Thursday.

Boulter, the No 9 seed, dropped simply 3 video games in opposition to fortunate loser Kyoka Okamura from Japan, ranked 271, profitable, 6-1 6-2, in simply 69 minutes.

The 28-year-old Brit is presently ranked 33 on this planet after a yr which has yielded 2 WTA titles and a break-through into the High 30.

Though she has been unable to get previous the Third-round of a significant, Boulter has commonly asserted her authority together with her highly effective baseline recreation, and the gulf between her and Okamura was evident in Tokyo.

“I’m enjoying some good tennis,” stated Boulter, who reached her first quarter-final since Eastbourne in June.

The scientific win units up an intriguing conflict with Canadian wild-card Bianca Andreescu.

Andreescu, 24, received the 2019 US Open as a teen however has been tormented by damage issues since.

“It’s a free swing for me on the finish of the yr, and I’ve nothing to lose,” stated Boulter, who has no rating factors to defend, and will transfer again into the highest 30 this week.

High seed Zheng Qinwen made a profitable begin to her Tokyo marketing campaign, defeating house hope Moyuka Uchijima, 7-5 6-0, in 77 minutes to arrange a quarter-final match in opposition to one other Canadian, No 8 seed Leylah Fernandez.

“I’m making an attempt to go to web extra, method and volley extra,” Zheng stated after the match.

Again in 2022, a 19-year-old Zheng reached the primary WTA ultimate of her profession right here, falling to Liudmila Samsonova within the title match.

Two years on, she is the reigning Olympic Gold medalist and contemporary off a run to the Wuhan ultimate 2 weeks in the past that sealed her qualification for the WTA Finals Riyadh subsequent month.

In a first-time encounter with Uchijima, Zheng rolled to the end after an up-and-down first set, profitable the final 9 video games of the competition.

Initially Zheng struggled together with her inconsistency, with a collection of low-cost errors from the forehand wing handing again an early break, however, from 4-5 down, the Chinese language hit her stride to win 12 of the following 14 factors and snatched the set, after committing 17 unforced errors within the opener, and touchdown simply 47% of her first serves.

She then dominated the second set, although, throughout which her unforced error depend went down to six and her first serve share went as much as 58%.

Two weeks in the past, Zheng received the higher of 2021 US Open finalist Fernandez for the primary time in 3 conferences, profitable their Third-round encounter in Wuhan, 5-7 6-3 6-0.

“I believe she’s a extremely good participant, and he or she has a unique recreation type in comparison with the others,” Zheng stated. “She takes the ball actually early, so that you don’t have an excessive amount of time between the photographs. You all the time need to be alert, and it’s not straightforward to play in opposition to her. However subsequent time I will probably be on my finest, like what I did final time.

Elsewhere, No 3 seed Daria Kasatkina from Russia prolonged her profitable streak to five matches following her title run in Ningbo final week with a 3-6 6-3 6-1 defeat of McCartney Kessler.

Kasatkina wanted an hour and 56 minutes to get previous the 25-year American, who’s ranked 73 on this planet.

Her opponent within the Final 8 is Sofia Kenin, who survived a extreme problem in 3-set thriller in opposition to fortunate loser Clara Tauson.

The 2020 Australian Open champion went the gap in a third-set tiebreak to beat the Dane, 6-7(8) 6-4 7-6(6) after a 2 hour 51 minute battle.

© Ulises RuizAFP through Getty Photographs

Guangzhou | WTA 250 Guangzhou Open offered by AVAIR

American qualifier Caroline Dolehide got here again from 1-4 down within the third set to upset No 2 seed Marie Bouzkova from the Czech Republic on the Guangzhou Open to achieve her Third quarter-final of 2024.

Dolehide held her first match level serving at 5-4 within the decider, her subsequent two at 6-5, and finally transformed her sixth after 3 hours and 18 minutes to edge previous the Czech, 6-7(3) 6-4 7-5(6).

The American meets Seventh-seeded Jessica Bouzas Maneiro from Spain within the Final 8.

One other qualifier, Mananchaya Sawangkaew, upset No 3 seed Yuan Yue from China, 6-2 6-3, to put up her first High 50 win and attain her first WTA quarter-final in her Third tour-level fundamental draw.

Sawangkaew, who’s the primary Thai participant to achieve a WTA quarter-final since Luksika Kumkhum at Hong Kong 2018, takes on Olga Danilovic subsequent.

In the meantime, America’s Bernarda Pera powered previous wild-card Zhang Shuai from China, 6-2 6-2, to achieve her first tour-level quarter-final since Hamburg 2023.

Pera meets prime seed Katerina Siniakova within the Final 8 after the Czech swept by one other American, fortunate loser Alicia Parks, 6-1 6-4, in 78 minutes on Day 4 in Guangzhou.