This year’s Guadalajara Open champion Maria Sakkari beat Misaki Doi 6-3 6-1 in 65 minutes at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. Sakkari hit 25 winners and did not face a break point to extend her winning streak to six consecutive matches. Doi played her last match of her career. 

Sakkari paid tribute to Doi in the post-match interview. 

“I don’t want to talk about me today. It was an honour to play against Misaki in her last ever professional match. You deserve to enjoy life, enjoy yourself, have some fun. We know how tough the  tennis life is. So take some time, and I am sure you will find a way to find something special again in your life. You had an amazing career, so congratulations”, said Sakkari. 

Sakkari set up a match against Caroline Garcia, who beat Anhelina Kalinina 6-4 6-3. 

Garcia fired 29 winners, including 10 aces, and dropped just seven first serve points. The French player raced out to a 3-0 lead, but Kalinina pulled back on serve to draw level to 3-3 and held three break points, but Garcia saved them to hold serve to hold serve at deuce to take a 4-3 lead. Garcia earned a break in the 10^th game to close out the first set 6-4. 

Garcia broke serve in the eighth game of the second set after Kalinina hit her drop shot. Garcia served out by holding serve at love with consecuve aces. 

Former Roland Garros semifinalist Daria Kasatkina beat Despina Papamichail 6-4 6-4 in 2 hours. Kasatkina went up a 4-1 lead with a double break in the second set. Papamichail pulled both breaks back to draw level to 4-4. Kasatkina won the final two games to seal the second set 6-4 setting up a quarter final match against Jessica Pegula. Two-time Tokyo semifinalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Linda Noskova 6-3 4-6 6-0 to reach the quarter final. 

Marcos Giron came back to beat Stan Wawrinka 6-7 (6-8) 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (10-8) in their first head-to-head match to reach the second round at the Astana Open. 

Both players went on serve and never faced a break point in the whole match. Giron earned an early mini-break to take a 5-4 lead in the tie-break of the third set. Wawrinka pulled back on serve to draw level to 5-5. Giron sealed the second mini-break to win the third set 8-6. The US player has won 20 tour-level matches this year. 

Giron set up a second round match against either Dominic Thiem or Juan Pablo Varillas. 

Frenchman Adrian Mannarino overcame his compatriot Arthur Rinderknech 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 to clinch his 33^rd tour-level win of the season. Rinderknech earned an early break in the second game to take a 2-0 lead. Mannarino broke straight back to draw level to 2-2. Mannarino earned an early mini-break to open up a 4-2 lead. Rinderknech pulled back on serve for 3-4. Mannarino sealed the first set 7-4 with a second mini-break. Mannarino broke serve in the second and eighth game to close out the second set 6-3. 

Mannarino set up a second round match against Alibek Kachmazov, who beat Corentin Moutet 6-3 7-6 (7-5) in two hours and seven minutes. 

Jurij Rodionov came back from one set down to beat Gregoire Barrere 2-6 6-4 7-6 (7-5). Barrere earned two breaks in the second and eighth games to win the first set 6-2. Rodionov broke twice in the third and fifth games to race out to a 5-1 lead in the second set. Barrere pulled one break back in the eighth game and held his serve to claw his way back to 4-5, but Rodionov served out at 30 in the tenth game. Rodionov fended off two match points on serve at 4-5 in the third set before winning the tie-break 7-5 with a mini-break on the 12^th point. Egor Gerasimov beat Bernabe Zapata Miralles 7-6 (7-5) 6-3. 

Daria Kasatkina has taken a swipe at organizers at the Toray Pan Pacific Open for not using the roof to cover their premier court on Thursday due to the heat. 

The Russian played her second round match against Despina Papamichail in temperatures around 30 degrees with the humidity making it feel even warmer. Kasatkina battled to a 6-4, 6-4, win after spending more than two hours on the court. She dropped serve four times in the match but managed to break Papamichail seven times en route to victory. 

Speaking on the court following his latest tour win, the world No.13 admitted that she struggled in the conditions and implied that she believed the roof should have been closed to shield the players from the sun. Tokyo, which is where the tournament is staged, has experienced a record-breaking number of ‘extremely hot’ days this year with their autumn season being warmer than usual. Something that some warn could be a more regular occurrence due to climate change.

“We cannot do much about it. We are using the ice towels and some supplements to keep you hydrated. By at the end, you cannot fight with something you cannot control,” Kasatkina commented on the conditions during her on-court interview.
“I think in these kinds of conditions, if you have a roof, better maybe to close it. If you have these opportunities, better to use it than to make players almost die on the field.” She added. 

Kasatkina is through to her seventh Tour quarter-final of the season. Awaiting her in the next round will be second seed Jessica Pegula who beat Spain’s Cristina Bucșa 6-1, 6-2, in her second round match on Wednesday. It will be only the second Tour meeting between the two players and their first on a hard court. 

Elsewhere in Tokyo, another player to reach the last eight in France’s Caroline Garcia who beat Anhelina Kahlinina 6-4, 6-3. Meanwhile, Anastasia Pavlychenkova defeated Czech Republic’s Linda Noskova 6-3, 4-6, 6-0.