by Ian Marshall, Editor

Zhang Xuan, the no.18 seed, beat Croatia’s Sun Jiayi, the no.15 seed (11-8, 11-9, 14-12), Kim Hayeong, the no.16 seed, caused somewhat of a bigger upset by overcoming Chinese Taipei’s Lin Chia-Hsuan, the no.6 seed (11-6, 13-11, 11-4), the highest rated player to reach the round of the last eight.

A win against the odds for Zhang Xuan but she had every right to enter the contest against Sun Jiayi with a degree of optimism; the previous day in the preliminary stage of the Under 21 Women’s Singles event, she had accounted for the Croatian in six games (11-7, 11-9, 9-11, 7-11, 11-8, 12-10).

“I won four-two yesterday; she plays with short pimples on the forehand so the ball comes over low with little spin. I thought I would feel uncomfortable against that style of play but I felt fine; having played her yesterday and won, I was well prepared for the match today. I did feel a little nervous before the match today; you beat a player once so you should be able to win again but you never know. Serve and a strong first attack was the key today; really fast and low with the first forehand not too much spin. Winning the first helped my confidence but in the third game I was losing 8-10 and 10-11 before coming back to win.” Zhang Xuan

Success for Kim Hayeong and Zhang Xuan contrary to ranking; in the two remaining Under 21 Women’s Singles quarter-final contests, the outcomes were as anticipated.

Puerto Rico’s Adriana Diaz, the no.11 seed, beat Marie Migot of France, the no.16 seed (13-11, 11-7, 11-6); Choi Hyojoo, the no.17 seed, added to Korea Republic success by overcoming Hong Kong’s Zhu Chengzhu, the no.21 seed (11-4, 11-6, 15-13).

At the semi-final stage Adriana Diaz meets Choi Hyojoo, Zhang Xuan opposes Kim Hayeong; the Under 21 Women’s Singles event will be played to a conclusion later in the day.