Monica Puig
Monica Puig

Monica Puig beats Caroline Wozniacki in the Wuhan Open


Qualifier Monica Puig reached the quarter-finals of the Wuhan Open after defeating Caroline Wozniacki for the second time this year.

The Puerto Rican edged a close match 7-6 (12/10) 7-5 in two hours and 26 minutes, but she needed seven match points to get over the line.

Puig had come from a bagel set down to defeat the Australian Open champion 0-6 6-4 6-4 in the second round at the Miami Open in March and the 24-year-old repeated the dose with a forehand winner to set up a clash against home favourite Wang Qiang, who defeated Daria Gavrilova in straight sets, in an all-unseeded battle.

Two-time grand slam winner Garbine Muguruza crashed to a 7-6 (7/3) 7-6 (7/1) loss at the hands of world number 47 Katerina Siniakova.

The 24-year-old earned set point in the opener, only to drop serve and go to a tie-break which Siniakova won.

Both players broke each other four times to force another tie-break, but the Czech player stormed to victory to reach her first quarter-final since May.

Ashleigh Barty - runner-up in 2017 - is back in the quarter-finals after a 7-5 6-1 win over Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber.

From 5-2 up in the opener, Barty survived a spirited fightback from Kerber and won eight of the last nine games to seal a straight-sets victory.

Unseeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova came from a set down to defeat two-time Wuhan champion Petra Kvitova 3-6 6-3 6-3.

Anett Kontaveit needed three sets to see off China's Shuai Zhang 6-4 4-6 6-1, Dominika Cibulkova defeated Daria Kasatkina 6-3 7-6 (7/3) and Aryna Sabalenka beat Sofia Kenin 6-3 6-3.

Margarita Gasparyan continued her comeback with an impressive win over Tatjana Maria at the Tashkent Open, to reach her first WTA quarter-final in almost two years.

Gasparyan battled back from 0-4 down in the deciding set but sealed a 6-2 3-6 7-6 (7/2) victory in two hours and 10 minutes.

Gasparyan's doubles partner Anastasia Potapova is also through after a 6-3 6-3 success against Olga Danilovic.

Second seed Vera Lapko progressed to the last eight with a 6-2 6-4 win over Ivana Jorovic and will face Mona Barthel following her 7-5 4-6 6-4 victory against Evgeniya Rodina.

Kateryna Kozlova, who defeated top seed Irina-Camelia Begu in the first round, continued her good form with a 7-5 6-4 triumph over Fiona Ferro, while Fanny Stoller beat Vera Zvonareva 7-6 (7/2) 6-4.

Anna Karolina Schmiedlova defeated Nao Hibino 7-6 (7/5) 6-4 and Dalila Jakupovic completed the quarter-final line-up with a 6-1 7-6 (8/6) win against Arantxa Rus.


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