With the early retirement of the 2nd seed, Bianca Andreescu joins Leylah Fernandez in the WTA 500 quarter-finals in Tokyo, while Wang Xiyu survived a scare to keep her title defence in tact in Guangzhou.
I’ve found myself in a similar situation countless times, and it’s truly the worst feeling imaginable. I genuinely wish her a swift recovery. The season stretches long ahead, and we’re all navigating our personal battles, but I hope this doesn’t weigh her down too much. Bianca Andreescu
Tokyo | WTA 500 Toray Pan Pacific Open
Beatriz Haddad Maia, the 2nd seed from Brazil, was forced to retire in Tokyo, sending Canadian Bianca Andreescu into the quarter-finals.
Haddad Maia was evidently in discomfort in the 2nd game when she produced 2 double-faults before grimacing as she missed a playable forehand.
After finding herself down 2 break points, she called for a medical time-out but could only manage to play one more game before pulling out due to a left back injury at 0-3 down after just 18 minutes of play.
At just 24 years old, Andreescu has battled her own slew of health issues throughout her career, with a significant back injury keeping her off the tour for 9 months between August 2023 and May 2024, and Tokyo marks only her 2nd appearance since experiencing a knee injury at this year’s US Open.
In her on-court interview, the Canadian, now ranked 159, expressed empathy for Haddad Maia.
“I’ve found myself in a similar situation countless times, and it’s truly the worst feeling imaginable,” she said. “I genuinely wish her a swift recovery. The season stretches long ahead, and we’re all navigating our personal battles, but I hope this doesn’t weigh her down too much.
“There are numerous approaches to cope with adversity,” she later said of her own struggles. “Initially, coming to terms with it was immensely difficult—that was my greatest hurdle. Staying positive and refusing to surrender was crucial, as there were many instances I felt like giving up. But my love for this sport fuelled my determination to keep pushing on.”
The former US Open champion moves into the Last 8 of a tournament at WTA 500 level or above for the first time since making the 2022 Rome quarters.
It is her 2nd quarter-final of 2024, following her run to the ‘s-Hertogenbosch final on grass in June.
Andreescu will next face either No 9 seed Katie Boulter, the British No 1, or Japanese qualifier Kyoka Okamura.
In other results on Day 3, Andreescu’s fellow Canadian Leylah Fernandez also secured her place in the quarter-finals for the 5th time this season, after a hard-fought 6-0 3-6 7-5 win over Russian-born Frenchwoman Varvara Gracheva.
Fernandez needed 2 hours and 15 minutes to improve her record to 2-0 against Gracheva.
Meanwhile, No 6 seed Diana Shnaider from Russia triumphed over Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova in a convincing 76 minutes, 6-2 6-2, to advance to a meeting with Sayaka Ishii, the 19-year-old Japanese qualifier.
20-year-old left-hander Shnaider is now into her 7th tour-level quarter-final of the year.
Ishii continued her remarkable run in Japan by defeating fellow qualifier Zeynep Sonmez from Turkey with a score of 4-6 6-2 6-3, marking her first quarter-final appearance on the WTA Tour in only her second main draw.
Defending Guangzhou champion Wang Xiyu survived a scare against wild-card Wei Sijia on Wednesday
WTAtennis.com
Guangzhou | WTA 250 Guangzhou Open presented by AVAIR
Guangzhou Open defending champion Wang Xiyu survived a scare against fellow Chinese wild-card Wei Sijia in Guangzhou, eventually winning through, 3-6 6-0 7-5.
Wang overturned a 3-5 third-set deficit to defeat Wei after 2 hours and 18 minutes to reach her 3rd WTA quarter-final of 2024, and her first since reaching the Austin final in March.
In the Last 8, the Chinese will meet Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti, who saved 6 set points in the first set to defeat Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian, 7-6(5) 6-4.
Having lost all 4 of her previous meetings with Cristian, this was their first hard-court contest, and Bronzetti advances to her 3rd tour-level quarter-final of 2024.
Serbia’s Olga Danilovic dropped just a single game to convincingly upset No 5 seed Diane Parry from France, 6-1 6-0, in just 74 minutes, and make the first tour-level hard-court quarter-final of her career.
No 7 seed Jessica Bouzas Maneiro from Spain came from 1-3 down in the first set to defeat Chinese wild-card Shi Han, advancing to her first career WTA quarter-final at the Guangzhou Open.
