World number 5 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland bested wildcard Shuai Zhang of China in straight sets (6-1, 7-5) to advance to the third round at the Shenzhen Open, a WTA International event. The top seed did not face any breakpoints in the first set and converted all three break chances while winning 76% of her service points. The second set was much tighter, with Radwanska winning three of four break points and Zhang converting both of her opportunities. In the quarterfinals, Radwanska will face Qiang Wang of China who got past American Vania King: 7-6, 6-3. Wang, ranked 110, upset fifth seed Johanna Konta of Great Britain in the first round.
Eugenie Bouchard of Canada defeated American qualifier Nicole Gibbs in just over an hour: 6-4, 6-2. After a close first set, Bouchard improved her service points won to 70% and did not face any breakpoints in the second set. The Canadian will play Timea Babos of Hungary in the quarterfinals.
Babos upset fourth seed Monica Niculescu of Romania in straight sets: 6-1, 6-4. Babos broke Niculescu’s serve five times while saving eight of ten break points. This was Babos’ first victory over Niculescu in four matches at the WTA tour level.
Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany progressed to the quarterfinals as third seed Irina-Camelia Begu retired in the second set. Friedsam won the first set 7-5 and was leading 3-2 in the second when Begu was forced to retire. The twenty-one year old German is currently ranked 95.
The seventh seed also lost today as Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan went down to Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in straight sets: 6-0, 6-4. Siniakova won 61% of her service points compared to just 40% for Diyas. Siniakova, ranked 102, will face Friedsam in the quarterfinals.
The last quarterfinal match will be American Alison Riske versus Anett Kontaveit of Estonia, ranked 97 and 91, respectively. Riske bested Su-Wei Hsieh of Taipei in the only three set match of the day: 3-6, 7-5, 6-1. Kontaveit dismissed Saisai Zheng of China in just an hour: 6-1, 6-2.
