No. 3 seed Leylah Fernandez of Canada reached the quarterfinals with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Australia’s Kimberly Birrell on Thursday at the Hong Kong Tennis Open.
The defending champion saved all three break points in the 80-minute victory and will face ninth-seeded Bernarda Pera in the round of eight.
Two seeded players were knocked out, with Russia’s Anastasia Zakharova eliminating No. 7 Varvara Gracheva of France 6-3, 6-1 and Suzan Lamens of the Netherlands outlasting No. 8 Cristina Bucsa of Spain 5-7, 6-4, 6-3. Sofia Kenin advanced with a 7-5, 6-4 defeat of France’s Jessika Ponchet.
Jiangxi Open
No. 2 seed Rebecca Sramkova of Slovakia moved into the quarterfinals with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over China’s Sijia Wei in Jiujiang, China.
Sramkova saved seven of 13 break points and took advantage of seven double faults by Wei to set up a match with Italy’s Martina Trevisan, a 7-6 (4), 6-2 winner against Anna Bondar of Hungary.
Sixth-seeded Dutchwoman Arantxa Rus defeated Czech Linda Fruhvirtova 6-4, 7-6 (4) and Switzerland’s Viktorija Golubic was leading 6-2 when No. 4 Jessica Bouzas Maneiro of Spain was forced to retire.
