by Wade Townsend

The 16 year old lost in six games against Minami Ando, a student from Senshu University.

At number eight in the world, Ito is the second highest ranked Japanese woman, only behind Kasumi Ishikawa, and was one of the frontrunners for the title.

Ando, currently unranked, was successful during the later stages of 2016, winning the Finlandia Open in December.

There were few surprises in the rest of the draw.

Top seed Kasumi Ishikawa managed to recover from a two game deficit to take the match 4-2 against Narimoto Ayami. Meanwhile, it was smooth sailing for Miu Hirano, advancing with a straight games win over Megumi Abe.