Third seed Karolina Pliskova has crashed out of the Toray Pan Pacific Open after losing 6-4, 6-2, to world No.107 Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
The US Open runner-up struggled with her usual reliable serve as Sasnovich managed to hit her way to 12 break point opportunities throughout the match, capitalising on five of them. Twice Pliskova battled back from behind in the opening set, but her lack of consistency proved too fatal to her match hopes as she gradually faded away.
Sasnovich’s win comes after what has been a lacklustre season for her. This year the Belarusian has only managed to win eight out of her 24 matches on the WTA Tour prior to this week’s tournament in Tokyo. She will now play in her first WTA quarter-final of the year.
“I was ready to go to Wuhan for the next tournament because I know Karolina is a very good player.” Sasnovich said during her on-court interview.
“I didn’t think I would win today, but that’s life, it’s tennis, the ball is round. I’m really happy with my win.”
Claiming her first ever win over a top 10 player, the 22-year-old admitted that it was an emotional moment for her.
“I have a lot of emotion. It was my first win over a Top 10 player, I’m really happy with it and looking forward to the next round,” she later added.
Awaiting Sasnovich in the next round will be crowd favourite Naomi Osaka. The 18-year-old booked her quarter-final place on Wednesday after brushing aside Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-1, to grab the biggest win of her career to date. It will be the first meeting between the two players on the tour.
Sasnovich wasn’t the only qualifier to secure their place in the last eight on Thursday. Polish world No.109 Magda Linette held her nerve to edge out Yulia Putintseva 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, in a match that lasted almost three hours. Linette was broken three times and had to save two match points in the deciding set before sealing the marathon victory. The valiant efforts of the Pole have awarded her a showdown against 2010 champion Caroline Wozniacki.
