by Simon Daish

Third seed Hitomi Sato was handed a tough fixture against the number 10 seed Yui Hamamoto, and as expected the match provided a close contest between the two players.

In a highly unpredictable encounter the spectators in Panagyurishte were treated to a thoroughly entertaining battle between the two Japanese representatives, and Hitomi Sato will be pleased to have come through the tie with the win to her name (11-7, 11-13, 11-7, 11-8, 5-11, 11-9).

Miyu Kato is also through to the last eight after the eighth seeded player put in decent performance to see off Misaki Morizono.

Despite suffering an early setback in the opening game Miyu Kato managed to pull herself back into the tie, claiming the next four games (9-11, 11-4, 11-6, 11-6, 12-10) in a row to qualify for the next round.

The impressive campaign continues for Asuka Sasao as the unseeded competitor registered another confidence boosting win in the Women’s Singles draw.

Victorious in the opening round of the main draw against the seventh seed Georgina Pota of Hungary, Asuka Sasao carried her good form into the second day of the competition successfully negotiating her fixture against 12th seed Maki Shiomi (11-7, 9-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-8, 12-10) to advance beyond the Round of 16.

Kasumi Ishikawa is the player awaiting Asuka Sasao in the quarter-finals following a powerful display from the top seed against Mizuki Morizono (11-5, 11-9, 11-8, 11-6).