MUGURUZA THROUGH TO WUHAN OPEN QUARTER-FINALS
Top seed enters q-finals and Barty sends Radwanska packing
WUHAN: Top-ranked Garbine Muguruza advanced to the quarterfinals at the Wuhan Open after beating Magda Linette of Poland 6-2, 1-6, 6-4.
The Spaniard went up an early break in the third-round match against No. 83 Linette and the Wimbledon champion needed just a half-hour to win the first set.
Linette fought back in the second set, winning five straight games against top-seeded Muguruza before play was stopped briefly to close the roof for rain. Muguruza managed to get one game on the board before Linette sent the match to a decider.
“I know she is a very good player,” Muguruza said.
“She had a very good moment in the second set but that didn’t disturb me to just keep going,” said Muguruza.
Muguruza faces French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko in the quarter-finals.
Ostapenko also needed three sets to advance, beating eight-seeded Monica Puig of Puerto Ricco 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.
Up a double break, Ostapenko served for the match at 5-1 but Puig wasn’t ready to go home. Helped by seven double faults in Ostapenko’s last two service games, Puig came close to a comeback in the decider.
Ashleigh Barty continued her strong form, beating her second consecutive top-20 player with a 4-6, 6-0, 6-4 win over ninth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska.
In hot and humid conditions, the Australian broke Radwanska’s service six times to advance to the quarter-finals against third-seeded Karolina Pliskova, who beat China’s Wang Qiang 6-2, 6-1.
The 21-year-old Barty beat fifth-seeded Johanna Konta in the second round.
The Australian broke Radwanska’s serve in the deciding set to take a 4-2 lead. She set up game point in the eighth game with a backhand drop shot after a 20-shot rally to lead 5-3, then held serve in the 10th game to advance on her fourth match point.
“I didn’t do much wrong in that first set, but came up short, so credit to her,” Barty said.
“But I played pretty well over the last two sets.”
Elena Vesnina, the 16th seed, lost in straight sets to qualifier Maria Sakkari of Greece 7-6 (8-6), 7-5.
Sakkari beat fourth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki en route to the quarter-finals. Ekaterina Makarova of Russia also made it to the quarters, beating compatriot Daria Kasatkina 6-4, 6-4.
It’s been a tough tournament for seeded and featured players.
On Tuesday, second-seeded Simona Halep and No. 4-seeded Caroline Wozniacki lost their second-round matches. Former No. 1 Angelique Kerber, US Open champion Sloane Stephens – beaten by Wang Qiang – and runner-up Madison Keys lost in the first round. — AP