Wednesday at the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open defined the quarterfinal field, seeing top seed Ashleigh Barty progress into the last eight, while second seed Karolina Pliskova was upset in straight sets.
Ashleigh Barty missed too many first serves midway through the second set, allowing her opponent Sofia Kenin to go up 5-3. The Australian world No.1 regrouped, saved two set points and won four straight games to close it out in straight sets, 6-3 7-5. Barty’s next opponent will be Croatia’s Petra Martic, who needed less than an hour to dispatch qualifier Veronika Kudermetova 6-3 6-1.
Playing the Wuhan tournament for the first time, 19-year-old Dayana Yastremska earned the first Top 10 win of her career by stunning second-ranked Karolina Pliskova 6-1 6-4 in 64 minutes. The Ukrainian teenager’s quarterfinal opponent will be fifth seed and two-time Wuhan champion Petra Kvitova, who defeated Sloane Stephens for the first time in their three meetings.
Third seed Elina Svitolina made a smooth progress past two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-4 6-2, employing completely different tactics than yesterday against Garbine Muguruza:
Svetlana is a completely different, opposite player to Garbine. Today I had little bit more time, so that’s why I moved forward. I always change. Depends on the player. I’m not that kind of player who has one game plan for everyone – I always do things different [for] each player, each day.
In the quarterfinals, Svitolina will face American Alison Riske, who ousted eighth-seeded Qiang Wang 6-2 6-1.
The day opened with Simona Halep‘s retirement against Kazakh Elena Rybakina, the reason being a lower back injury. Rybakina’s quarterfinal opponent will be defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, seeded ninth this week, as the Belarusian beat sixth-seeded Kiki Bertens 6-1 7-6(9).
Our photographer Jimmie48 attended the majority of the third-round matches. Enjoy his Wednesday’s pics!
MORE 2019 DONGFENG MOTOR WUHAN OPEN PHOTOS:
- Tuesday: Barty, Pliskova, Svitolina, Halep move into the third round
- Monday: Kvitova makes a winning return, Wozniacki & Kerber upset
