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September 28, 2017

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Muguruza reaches Wuhan last 8

World No. 1 Garbine Muguruza powered her way into the quarterfinals of the Wuhan Open yesterday, defeating Poland鈥檚 Magda Linette 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 to set up a mouth-watering clash with Jelena Ostapenko.

The Spaniard dominated the first set, but performed meekly in the second at a hot and humid tournament that has seen all but three seeds crash out.

The 23-year-old top seed suffered with a poor forehand in the third set but broke her opponent at 4-5 to clinch the third-round tie.

鈥淭oday I had a very tough match and had to go out there and fight a lot. The second set didn鈥檛 go my way at all,鈥 she told a post-match press conference.

But she said she was 鈥渓ooking forward鈥 to her quarterfinal clash with Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open winner, after the Latvian overpowered Monica Puig of Puerto Rico 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

Ostapenko has now won 20 of her last 23 three-set matches, the WTA said.

Earlier in the day Agnieszka Radwanska suffered an upset 6-4, 0-6, 4-6 loss at the hands of Australia鈥檚 Ashleigh Barty.

Radwanska, seeded nine, looked strong in the first set but lost seven consecutive games to allow her opponent 鈥 ranked 37 鈥 to take a lead in the third.

The 28-year-old Pole said she was still recovering from a virus that knocked her out of the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo.

鈥淎fter the virus, playing three matches in a row in these conditions is something that I didn鈥檛 really handle great.鈥

Barty, who had already downed fifth seed Johanna Konta in the second round, is now in the running to qualify for the WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai.

Radwanska, ranked 13 in the world, was the latest seed to roll in Wuhan after Simona Halep and Caroline Wozniacki crashed out on Tuesday.

They followed fellow seeds Johanna Konta, Sloane Stephens, Madison Keys and Petra Kvitova among others, who all suffered surprise defeats on Monday.

Elsewhere, Karolina Pliskova sealed a resounding 6-2, 6-1 victory against Wang Qiang, who on Tuesday became the first ever Chinese player to make it into the third round in Wuhan after sailing past US Open winner Stephens.

There are now no Chinese left in the draw.

Pliskova, seeded third, said she felt the best she had all year during the match.

鈥淚 felt great today. Probably you could see it. I was just feeling every shot,鈥 said the 25-year-old Czech.

Maria Sakkari of Greece, Russian Ekaterina Makarova, Caroline Garcia of France and her compatriot Alize Cornet are also through to the last eight.


 

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