The WTA events in Japan and China complete their quarter-final line-ups on Thursday…
I’m playing some good tennis. It’s a free swing for me at the end of the year, and I have nothing to lose. Katie Boulter
Tokyo | WTA 500 Toray Pan Pacific Open
British No 1 Katie Boulter charged past Kyoka Okamura into her 4th WTA quarter-final this year at the Toray Pan Pacific Open alongside top seed Zheng Qinwen, Daria Kasatkina and Sofia Kenin in Tokyo on Thursday.
Boulter, the No 9 seed, dropped just 3 games against lucky loser Kyoka Okamura from Japan, ranked 271, winning, 6-1 6-2, in just 69 minutes.
The 28-year-old Brit is currently ranked 33 in the world after a year which has yielded 2 WTA titles and a break-through into the Top 30.
Although she has been unable to get past the 3rd-round of a major, Boulter has regularly asserted her authority with her powerful baseline game, and the gulf between her and Okamura was evident in Tokyo.
“I’m playing some good tennis,” said Boulter, who reached her first quarter-final since Eastbourne in June.
The clinical win sets up an intriguing clash with Canadian wild-card Bianca Andreescu.
Andreescu, 24, won the 2019 US Open as a teenager but has been plagued by injury problems since.
“It’s a free swing for me at the end of the year, and I have nothing to lose,” said Boulter, who has no ranking points to defend, and could move back into the top 30 this week.
Top seed Zheng Qinwen made a winning start to her Tokyo campaign, defeating home hope Moyuka Uchijima, 7-5 6-0, in 77 minutes to set up a quarter-final match against another Canadian, No 8 seed Leylah Fernandez.
“I’m trying to go to net more, approach and volley more,” Zheng said after the match.
Back in 2022, a 19-year-old Zheng reached the first WTA final of her career here, falling to Liudmila Samsonova in the title match.
Two years on, she is the reigning Olympic Gold medalist and fresh off a run to the Wuhan final 2 weeks ago that sealed her qualification for the WTA Finals Riyadh next month.
In a first-time encounter with Uchijima, Zheng rolled to the finish after an up-and-down first set, winning the last 9 games of the contest.
Initially Zheng struggled with her inconsistency, with a series of cheap mistakes from the forehand wing handing back an early break, but, from 4-5 down, the Chinese hit her stride to win 12 of the next 14 points and snatched the set, after committing 17 unforced errors in the opener, and landing just 47% of her first serves.
She then dominated the second set, though, during which her unforced error count went down to 6 and her first serve percentage went up to 58%.
Two weeks ago, Zheng got the better of 2021 US Open finalist Fernandez for the first time in 3 meetings, winning their 3rd-round encounter in Wuhan, 5-7 6-3 6-0.
“I think she’s a really good player, and she has a different game style compared to the others,” Zheng said. “She takes the ball really early, so you don’t have too much time between the shots. You always have to be alert, and it’s not easy to play against her. But next time I will be on my best, like what I did last time.
Elsewhere, No 3 seed Daria Kasatkina from Russia extended her winning streak to 5 matches following her title run in Ningbo last week with a 3-6 6-3 6-1 defeat of McCartney Kessler.
Kasatkina needed an hour and 56 minutes to get past the 25-year American, who is ranked 73 in the world.
Her opponent in the Last 8 is Sofia Kenin, who survived a severe challenge in 3-set thriller against lucky loser Clara Tauson.
The 2020 Australian Open champion went the distance in a third-set tiebreak to beat the Dane, 6-7(8) 6-4 7-6(6) after a 2 hour 51 minute battle.
Caroline Dolehide upset 2nd seed Marie Bouzkova in a 3 hour 18 minute thriller that went the distance in Guangzhou
© Ulises RuizAFP via Getty Images
Guangzhou | WTA 250 Guangzhou Open presented by AVAIR
American qualifier Caroline Dolehide came back from 1-4 down in the third set to upset No 2 seed Marie Bouzkova from the Czech Republic at the Guangzhou Open to reach her 3rd quarter-final of 2024.
Dolehide held her first match point serving at 5-4 in the decider, her next two at 6-5, and ultimately converted her 6th after 3 hours and 18 minutes to edge past the Czech, 6-7(3) 6-4 7-5(6).
The American meets 7th-seeded Jessica Bouzas Maneiro from Spain in the Last 8.
Another qualifier, Mananchaya Sawangkaew, upset No 3 seed Yuan Yue from China, 6-2 6-3, to post her first Top 50 win and reach her first WTA quarter-final in her 3rd tour-level main draw.
Sawangkaew, who is the first Thai player to reach a WTA quarter-final since Luksika Kumkhum at Hong Kong 2018, takes on Olga Danilovic next.
Meanwhile, America’s Bernarda Pera powered past wild-card Zhang Shuai from China, 6-2 6-2, to reach her first tour-level quarter-final since Hamburg 2023.
Pera meets top seed Katerina Siniakova in the Last 8 after the Czech swept by another American, lucky loser Alicia Parks, 6-1 6-4, in 78 minutes on Day 4 in Guangzhou.
