by Ian Marshall, Editor
In the opening round, the no.23 seed, she beat Chinese Taipei’s Lin Chia-Hsuan, the no.6 seed (13-11, 11-13, 7-11, 11-7, 11-4), before one round later overcoming Oceane Guisnel of France, the no.16 seed, in an even closer full distance five games encounter (11-7, 8-11, 5-11, 11-4, 15-13).
A last eight place for Sun Jiayi contrary to seeding, it was the same for China’s Sun Mingyang and Japan’s Maki Shiomi.
Sun Mingyang, the no.10 seed, after beating the host nation’s Anezka Ilcikova (11-3, 11-5, 11-2), accounted for Germany’s Wang Yuan, the no.7 seed (11-7, 11-9, 11-6). Meanwhile, Maki Shiomi, the no.11 seed, following success against Pauline Chasselin of France, the no.17 seed (11-8, 7-11, 11-3- 11-6), ended the hopes of Russia’s in-form Valeria Shcherbatykh, the no.24 seed (11-7, 11-5, 11-6). Notably in the opening round, Valeria Shcherbatykh had caused a major upset by ousting Miyuu Kihara, the no.5 seed and like Maki Shiomi from Japan (12-10, 11-8, 5-11, 11-9).
Otherwise for the highly seeded players, quarter-final places were reserved but both Japan’s Miyu Nagasaki, the no.2 seed and China’s Zhang Rui, the no.3 seed, experienced problems. In the opening round, Miyu Nagasaki was stretched to the limit by Sweden’s Filippa Bergand, the no.26 seed (11-5, 7-11, 11-7, 7-11, 15-13), before one round later accounting for colleague, Yumeno Soma, the no.28 seed, in a rather more comfortable manner (11-5, 11-5, 11-1).
Likewise, Zhang Rui almost came to grief when facing Poland’s Natalia Bajor, the no.12 seed, in round two. She eventually prevailed by the very minimal two point margin (8-11, 11-1, 10-12, 11-8, 13-11).
Testing times, not for China’s Chen Ke and Wang Yidi, nor for Puerto Rico’s Adriana Diaz; all three booked their quarter-final places in some style. Chen Ke, the top seed, beat Daria Trigolos of Belarus, the no.14 seed (11-5, 10-12, 11-3, 11-5), Wang Yidi, the no.4 seed, accounted for Belgium’s Lisa Lung, the no.19 seed (11-9, 11-7, 11-3. Not to be outdone, Adriana Diaz, the no.8 seed, ended the aspirations of Audrey Zarif of France, the no.9 seed (11-3, 11-8, 5-11, 11-6).
At the quarter-final stage, Chen Ke plays Sun Mingyang, Maki Shiomi faces Zhang Rui; in the opposite half of the draw Wang Yidi opposes Sun Jiayi; for Adriana Diaz, the opponent is Miyu Nagasaki.
The matches will be played later in the day in the evening session of play.
