The fourth day of play at Jiangxi Women’s Open saw eight players from Asia competing for the last four spots in the quarterfinal, completing the bottom half draw.
Liu Fangzhou, Misa Eguchi, and Duan Ying-Ying successfully claimed their spots, while eighth seed Han Xinyun suffered a second round defeat.
Duan upsets Han, Nara’s match is delayed
First on Centre Court, Duan Ying-Ying successfully defended the quarterfinal she reached in Nanchang last year with a comeback win against ninth seed Han Xinyun, a match that lasted more than two hours.
The first set had been characterised by quick holds from both players, with two hard-fought games on Duan’s serve that had been eventually taken by Han, who claimed the set with a 6-4 score line. The second set showed far less consistency on both players’ service games. Twice Duan took an early lead at the beginning of the set, and twice she lost it. The same pattern had been repeated at the end of the set, but a final, important hold, allowed Duan to win the battle with a 6-4 score line and force a third. The decider began with another exchange of breaks, that Duan eventually consolidated for a 3-1 lead. Forced to save two break points, en route to securing a 4-2 lead, Duan then quickly went ahead to win the last two games, losing only two points, and completed her comeback with a final 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 score line.
For Duan, this is the third quarterfinal she reached at a WTA level (the first in 2016), after the ones reached in her home tournament in Tianjin and in Pattaya City in 2015. She had also reached a final and a semifinal at two WTA 125K events in 2014.
For the last spot in the quarterfinals, second seed Kurumi Nara was set to play Chang Kai-Chen in the second match scheduled on Centre Court. Another rain delay (after the one that interrupted her first-round match midway through the second set two days ago), forced the match to be cancelled and postponed until tomorrow.
Misa Eguchi and Liu Fanghzou book straight-set wins
All was easier for Misa Eguchi and Liu Fangzhou, who only needed two sets to win their respective matches and advance to the quarterfinals (where they’re set to meet each other).
Liu, who defeated Donna Vekic in the first round, prevailed against Jang Su-Jeong for the second time this year, saving four break points to take the first set and giving her opponent no chances before claiming the second. The first part of the match saw a close battle, with Jang immediately losing her early lead, and with both players struggling to hold their serves after that. A crucial break in the final game eventually gave the Chinese the one-set lead. In the second set, Jang saved five break points in her first service games to maintain the balance, but eventually lost her serve at the worst timing ever, granting the Chinese a chance to serve out the match. Liu didn’t waste it, and converted her first match point to close the match with a 6-4, 6-3 score. The 20-year-old Liu scored her first win at the WTA-level of the year in Nanchang with her victory over Vekic, and has now reached a WTA International quarterfinal for the first time in career.
Japan’s Misa Eguchi also reached her first WTA quarterfinal of the year with a clear 6-4, 6-2 to Zhu Lin. An important break in the fifth game had been crucial to the Japanese in her way to taking the first set; Zhu saved one more break point in her following service game, but couldn’t create herself any chance to level off, and the Japanese successfully close the first set after forty minutes. The second one immediately started as one-sided, with Eguchi quickly gaining a 4-0 lead; a disadvantage that Zhu would never be able to recover from. The Chinese saved three break points to earn her first hold of the set, but couldn’t interrupt Eguchi’s momentum; the 23-year-old Japanese only needed to hold all her following games to eventually claim the match.
Two of the remaining quarterfinal doubles matches had been completed too; due to the weather conditions, they’d all been moved to indoor courts. Nicha Lertpitaksinchai and Peangtarn Plipuech, along with Liang Chen and Lu Jing-Jing, booked their spots into the semifinals.
Tomorrow’s schedule
Kurumi Nara and Chang Kai-Chen will open the day tomorrow on Centre Court, followed by an all-seeded battle between fifth seed Zhang Kailin and sixth seed Vania King, the first of the quarterfinal matches scheduled for tomorrow. Last on Centre Court, third seed Francesca Schiavone will meet seventh seed Risa Ozaki on her way to the semifinals.
On Court 1, Misa Eguchi and Liu Fangzhou will battle for a spot in the last four; after them, Duan Ying-Ying will face the winner of the match between Nara and Chang. Court 2 will see the last quarterfinal doubles match between top seeds Wang Yafan and Yang Zhaoxuan who will face fellow Chinese pairing You Xiaodi and Zhu Lin. Right after, Nicha Lertpitaksinchai and Peangtarn Plipuech will take on second seeds Shuko Aoyama and Makoto Ninomiya for a place in the final.