On Wednesday six third-round matches took place in Tokyo and the higher seeds all progressed to the quarterfinals: Angelique Kerber, Agnieszka Radwanska and Caroline Wozniacki.
Second seed Agnieszka Radwanska eliminated and took revenge on seed No.16 Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia in their sixth career meeting in one hour and 20 minutes, 6-3 6-4. The last time the two of them met was this year at Stanford when Cibulkova defeated Radwanska in three sets 3-6 6-4 6-4, but even earlier this year in Sydney the Pole double bageled the Slovakian. Their head-to-head record is now 5-1 for Radwanska. Fourth seed Caroline Wozniacki dominated Magdalena Rybarikova in just one hour and 8 minutes 6-1 6-1. In their only previous match at the 2009 Pattaya City Rybarikova defeated Wozniacki in two sets 6-4 6-1. The last of the seeds that pushed through into the quarterfinals was fifth seed Angelique Kerber, who scored her first victory in four meetings against Ana Ivanovic, seeded 11th, in one hour and 15 minutes, 6-4 6-2.
Three seeds were defeated in the other third-round matches in Tokyo. Venus Williams eliminated seed No.13 Simona Halep in their third career meeting, 4-6 7-5 6-3. They had previously faced each other twice in 2012, in Rome and Madrid, and both times Venus prevailed. Lucie Safarova ousted seed No.12 Samantha Stosur 6-4 6-4 and Eugenie Bouchard took out seed No.6 Jelena Jankovic in one hour and 10 minutes, 7-5 6-2.
The two remaining matches of the third-round action have been postponed for Thursday because of the weather: seed No.15 Sorana Cirstea will meet Svetlana Kuznetsova and seed No.7 Petra Kvitova will face Madison Keys. The quarterfinal action will also begin tomorrow. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)
Wide open tournament and there have been some really exciting match-ups. Most intrigued by Bouchard-Venus tomorrow. I think Radwanska is probably the favourite for the title right now.