Katie Boulter fought long and hard against Beatriz Haddad Maia but fell in straight sets, while Barbora Krejcikova and Anna Kalinskaya also advanced to the Last 8 in Ningbo, and 4 qualifiers and 1 lucky loser make the quarters in Osaka, an Open Era first…
China | WTA 500 Ningbo Open
Brazil’s Beatrice Haddad Maia scored her first win in 4 meetings over British No 1 Katie Boulter to advance to her 7th quarter-final of 2024.
Having lost to Boulter 3 times in 2024 already, once via retirement, the 6th seed finally got the better of the Brit, 7-6(2) 7-5, and will play Spain’s Paula Badosa in the Last 8.
The Brazilian dominated a first set tiebreak following an even start, and then broke Boulter in the 11th game of the second set before holding serve to win the match.
Ranked 35 in the world, 28-year old Boulter, who has 3 career singles titles to her name, stayed with Haddad Maia through the first set, with neither facing a break point, but the Brazilian took charge and dominated in the breaker, before breaking to start the second.
Boulter hit back to level at 2-2, and looked the more likely to forge ahead, but Haddad Maia saved 3 more break points, and the Brit paid for 2 double-faults, allowing the left-handed Brazilian to serve out the win after 2 hours and 26 minutes.
Czech 4th seed, Barbora Krejcikova, reached her 6th quarter-final of 2024 by defeating lucky loser Ma Ye-Xin from China, 7-6(5) 6-3, to open her account in Ningbo.
The win was just Krejcikova’s second since the Paris Olympic Games, and she next faces 17-year old Mirra Andreeva from Russia for a spot in the Last 4.
Another Russian, Anna Kalinskaya, the 7th seed, reached her 4th quarter-final of the season, and her first since Berlin in June, with a straight-sets defeat of China’s Yuan Yue, 6-3 6-3.
Kalinskaya advances to meet Czech Karolina Muchova, who improved to 3-0 overall against Romanian Jaqueline Cristian, yet another lucky loser, with a 6-2 6-1 win in 77 minutes.
Qualifier Kimberly Birrell advanced to the quarter-finals in Osaka when No 3 seed Elise Mertens retired hurt in the 3rd set on Thursday
© Lintao Zhang/Getty Images
Osaka | WTA 250 Kinoshita Group Japan Open
Australian qualifier Kimberly Birrell advanced to her 2nd WTA quarter-final of the year in Osaka, when the No 3 seed, Elise Mertens from Belgium, was forced to retire due to injury in the 3rd set of their 2nd-round match, with the score standing at 3-6 7-5, 4-1 (Retired) in favour of the Aussie.
Another qualifier, Ana Bogdan from Romania, also advanced to the quarters on Thursday, upsetting No 4 seed Marie Bouzkova from the Czech Republic, 6-0 7-6(5).
Bogdan led by 6-0, 4-2 and triple break point before Bouzkova mounted a come-back, but the Romanian held on to take the second-set tiebreak, and prevailed in just under 2 hours.
French 7th seed Diane Parry took 85 minutes to dismiss another Belgian, Greet Minnen, 6-4 6-2, and will meet Denmark’s Clara Tauson in the quarter-finals.
Tauson dispatched Britain’s Harriet Dart, 6-3 6-2, on Wednesday.
Japanese wild-card Sara Saito upset Elina Avanesyan of Armenia to reach the Last 8 on her WTA debut.
Saito became the second Japanese player to reach the quarters after the 18-year-old took down the No 5 seed, 7-6(2) 6-4, saving 2 set points in the first set, for her first Top 50 win.
Both Saito and 20-year-old Aoi Ito are making their WTA main-draw debuts in Osaka, and are emerging talents.
They are the two youngest Japanese players in the draw, which is a promising sign for the future of Japanese tennis.
They play contrasting styles of tennis, with Ito’s unorthodox mix of slices and finesse inspired by Hsieh Su-Wei, while Saito is the more conventional of the two, with her neat groundstroke technique and superb redirections of pace on show against Avanesyan in what she described afterwards as ‘a perfect match’.
Saito is a former junior No 2 who reached 3 girls’ doubles Grand Slam finals in 2023, and she has cut her ranking from No 364 at the start of the year to 179 this week.
Ito was ranked 420 this time last year, and is now sitting at No 188.
The slew of upsets in Osaka means that only one seed, Parry, has made it into the quarter-finals, while 5 players who came through qualifying, 4 qualifiers and 1 lucky loser, are also in the Last 8, an Open Era first.
