Garcia, Mertens cruise into Tianjin quarterfinals

The Associated Press

Published Oct 11, 2018 • Last updated Oct 11, 2018 • 1 minute read

TIANJIN, China — Second-seeded Caroline Garcia of France moved into the Tainjin Open quarterfinals after defeating Chinese qualifier Zhang Yuxuan 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday.

The 16th-ranked Garcia will play sixth-seeded Petra Martic of Croatia for a semifinal berth on Friday.

Third-seeded Elise Mertens of Belgium also advanced by defeating Slovakian qualifier Jana Cepelova 6-2, 6-3.

Mertens’ serve was broken both times she offered Cepelova an opportunity, but Mertens had the upper hand by breaking serve six times in the match.

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Mertens will play fifth-seeded Hsieh Su-Wei of Taiwan in the quarters.

Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland reached the quarterfinals with a 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 win over Japanese qualifier Misaki Doi.

Ranked No. 329, Bacsinszky is on the comeback trail following a long layoff with a right leg injury. This marks her first successive wins since Wimbledon last year.

Bacsinszky will take on fourth-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in the quarterfinals.

The 101st-ranked Katie Boulter of Britain advanced her cause to earn a top-100 ranking for the first time by securing a quarterfinal berth.

Boulter defeated Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 to arrange a quarterfinal against top-seeded Karolina Pliskova.

Pliskova and Sabalenka are in the hunt to secure one of the remaining three spots in the eight-player WTA Finals that begins in Singapore on Oct. 21.

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More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/tag/apf-Tennis and https://twitter.com/AP–Sports

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