Chinese teenager takes out home nation hope

QINWEN Zheng has continued her remarkable rise up the WTA Tour world rankings by reaching a quarter final in Toronto, defeating local hope Bianca Andreescu in three sets. The hard-hitting Chinese star fought it out across a tough first two sets before running away with the match thanks to a couple of crucial breaks in the third set including winning the last three games of the match for a 7-5 5-7 6-2 victory.

Zheng was ranked 51st coming into the WTA 1000 tournament, and though Andreescu was ranked two spots lower, the 22-year-old is already a Grand Slam winner. Boasting a 27-13 record this year, the Chinese 19-year-old edged a win close to collecting her first WTA Tour title taking two hours and 58 minutes in the Round of 16 to reach the final eight. Zheng served eight aces to one and won 74 pr cent of her first serve points compared to Andreescu’s 53 per cent. However the Chinese talent also served seven double faults and went at a 44 per cent efficiency on serve.

Breaking six times to four was enough to get the job done though, as Zheng won almost half of her first serve return points nad 45 per cent total return points on her road to victory. Andreescu’s loss means there are no more Canadians left in the Toronto event. Zheng will now take on 14th seed Czech Karolina Pliskova in the quarter finals. Just five seeds remain in the event and none in the top six after Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia stunned top seed and world number one Iga Swiatek. The Brazilian takes on 12th seed Swiss talent Belinda Bencic in the last eight, while 10th seed Coco Gauff and 15th seed Simona Halep face off, as does seventh seed Jessica Pegula and unseeded Kazakh Yulia Putintseva.

Meanwhile in the men’s ATP Tour 1000 tournament in Montreal, just three seeds remain after another day of chaos in Canada. Fourth seed Casper Ruud and home nation hope, sixth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime advanced to set up a blockbuster quarter final, whilst eighth seed Hubert Hurkacz made it in to take on red-hot Australian Nick Kyrgios who took down compatriot Alex de Minaur. It was a good day for the British talents with Daniel Evans and qualifier Jack Draper both making it through, as did Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta – who upset seventh seed Jannik Sinner – and American Tommy Paul.

AROUND THE TOUR RESULTS:

Montreal – ATP 1000 | Hard

Round of 16:

[4] Casper Ruud (NOR) defeated [14] Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP) 6-7 7-6 6-4
[6] Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN) defeated [9] Cameron Norrie (GBR) 6-3 6-4
Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP) defeated [7] Jannik Sinner (ITA)
[8] Hubert Hurkacz (POL) defeated Albert Ramos-Vinolas (ESP) 6-7 6-2 7-6
Daniel Evans (GBR) defeated [10] Taylor Fritz (USA) 7-6 1-6 7-5
Tommy Paul (USA) defeated [13] Marin Cilic (CRO) 6-4 6-2
[Q] Jack Draper (GBR) defeated [17] Gael Monfils (FRA) 6-2 0-2 RET
Nick Kyrgios (AUS) defeated Alex de Minaur (AUS) 6-2 6-3

Toronto – WTA 1000 | Hard

Round of 16:

Beatriz Haddad Maia (BRA) defeated [1] Iga Swiatek (POL) 6-4 3-6 7-5
[14] Karolina Pliskova (CZE) defeated [3] Maria Sakkari (GRE) 6-1 6-7 6-3
[10] Coco Gauff (USA) defeated [6] Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) 7-5 4-6 7-6
[7] Jessica Pegula (USA) defeated Camila Giorgi (ITA) 3-6 6-0 7-5
[12] Belinda Bencic (SUI) defeated [8] Garbine Muguruza (ESP) 6-1 6-3
[15] Simona Halep (ROU) defeated Jil Teichmann (SUI) 6-2 7-5
Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) defeated Alison Riske-Amritraj (USA) 6-3 7-5
Qinwen Zheng (CHN) defeated Bianca Andreescu (CAN) 7-5 5-7 6-2

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