The top half quarterfinal draw was completed during the third day of play at Jiangxi Women’s Open in Nanchang. All the seeded players competing today had successfully scored their wins. Han Xinyun and Kurumi Nara remain the only seeds who will try to gain their ticket to advance in tomorrow’s action.
Zhang Kailin and Francesca Schiavone advance after close matches.
Remaining top seeds Zhang Kailin and Francesca Schiavone both advance after battled matches on Centre Court. The Chinese took on Japan’s Miyu Kato, who was coming off of a comeback win against Urszula Radwanska, in the first round. The first set saw both players alternating comfortable holds with more battled breaks. From 4-5 down, after failing to consolidate an important break, Kato lost her serve to love, giving up the set with a 6-4 scoreline.
The second set followed a similar pattern, with both players struggling to make a real difference with their serve. For three times Kato is the first to break to take the lead, but every time she failed to hold her following game, easing to Zhang the path to claim the match. After an important hold that put her 6-5 up, the Chinese gained a first chance to win while Kato was serving to stay in the match, and immediately converted it, grabbing the victory with a final 6-4, 7-5 scoreline, after a match full of wasted chances for the Japanese. The two important breaks in the final games made the difference for Zhang, who will advance to a quarterfinal at a WTA level for the first time in two years.
Third-seed Francesca Schiavone needed to perform a comeback before seeing off of Lu Jiajing with a final 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 scoreline. Wild card Lu had already granted herself a name into the tournament by defeating former world number five Daniela Hantuchova in the first round, but couldn’t consolidate her one set lead against another still in form former top five player.
The first game started with an exchange of breaks, but got interrupted by Schiavone as she had an easy hold in the fifth game; the Chinese saved one more break point in the following game to prevent the Italian to take the lead. One crucial break gave the Lu the chance to serve for the set; the wild card needed to save five break points before being able to convert her second set point and successfully claiming the first set with a 6-4 score.
After that, the match’s momentum fell all in Schiavone’s hands. Quickly 3-0 up in the second, after saving two break points right in the first game, the Italian conceded her opponent only one hold before breaking her again and storming ahead to close the set with a quick 6-1 score. Again 3-0 down in the decider, Lu performed an attempt to comeback by taking one of the breaks back, but lost her serve again in the worst moment possible, gifting Schiavone a huge chance to serve for the match. With a game held to love the Italian ended the game and advanced to her third WTA quarterfinal of the year.
Risa Ozaki and Vania King also advance, Kurumi Nara last to reach the second round
Sixth seed Vania King and seventh seed Risa Ozaki completed the top half quarterfinal draw, both performing quick straight-set wins against the last two remaining qualifiers in the competition.
On Court 1, the American faced China’s Zhang Ying, who had previously made her way through the qualifying competition as a wild card. 20-year-old Zhang, currently ranked 696 in the world, eventually fell to the more experienced King 6-4, 6-2. One early break in the first game cost the Chinese the first set, as no more chances came for both players after King saved a break point right in the second game.
The American claimed the set with a comfortable hold in the last game. The second set saw King still in control of the game; two important breaks and zero chances conceded to the young Chinese allowed the American to claim it in little more than half an hour, gaining her ticket to the quarterfinals.
The action on Court 2 saw Risa Ozaki reaching her second straight WTA quarterfinal with a clear 6-0, 6-3 win against Thailand’s Nicha Lertpitasinchai. The Japanese took an early dominance of the game, conceding her opponent only one point in the first five games. A last, more battled game didn’t interrupt her momentum, as she converted her second set point to claim the first set after only twenty minutes.
Lertpitasinchai reacted as the second set started, breaking back the Japanese for two times but failing in the third, in which Ozaki saved four break points to eventually hold. She didn’t falter and successfully served out the match.
Ozaki will meet Francesca Schiavone for a spot in the semifinals, while King will have to battle Zhang Kailin for a chance to advance.
On Centre Court, second seed Kurumi Nara reprised her delayed match against Tereza Mrdeza, which saw the Japanese trailing 2-3 down in the second set after winning the first 6-3. After a first set who saw a long exchange of breaks, the second saw both players more comfortable on serve. It had been Nara who interrupted a series of easy holds by breaking the Croatian to 30 and getting a chance to serve for the match; in the following game, however, Mrdeza saved two match points before breaking back to level to a 5-all score.
The third break in a row granted Nara another chance, and this time the Japanese took it, holding to 15 to eventually claim the match and a spot in the second round, in which she will face Chang Kai-chen.
On the doubles sides, second seeds Shuko Aoyama and Makoto Ninomiya are the first into the semifinals. Fourth seeds Miyu Kato and Kurumi Nara had been the only ones to lose in the first round, falling 6-2, 6-3 to Liang Chen and Lu Jingjing.
Tomorrow’s schedule
The bottom half of the second round matches will be completed tomorrow. On Centre Court eight seed Han Xinyun will set up an all-Chinese battle against Duan Yingying, followed by second seed Kurumi Nara facing Chang Kai-chen.
On Court 1, Misa Eguchi, who defeated ninth seed Elitsa Kosova, will try to continue her run against Zhu Lin; on Court 2 Liu Fanghzou, who excluded fourth seed Donna Vekic, will face Jang Su-jeong.
All the remaining quarterfinal double matches will also be played tomorrow. First seeds Wang Yafan and Yang Zhaoxuan and third seeds Han Xinyun and Zhang Kailin are still in the competition, and will try to gain their spot into the last four.