BRITISH ninth seed Katie Boulter wasted no time in dismissing Australian qualifier Priscilla Hon to race into the Round of 16 at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo overnight. The sole seed in action, and only match that did not contain a local Japanese hope, Boulter needed just 77 minutes to get past Hon 6-1 6-4 and book a spot in the second round.

The pair have met three times before, but all on lower level events or qualifying, and all three went the distance with Hon the surprise winner. A far better player than she was in their most recent encounter in 2018, the 28-year-old Boulter was too consistent for the Aussie two years her junior.

Boulter won 73 per cent of her first serve points off a 65 per cent clip, while Hon managed just 53 per cent of her first serve points from a 68 per cent efficiency. The Brit also created five break point opportunities and converted all of them, while Hon won just one of two in the match that lasted an hour and 17 minutes.

The result came a day after Boulter found out she would be headed to Sydney for the United Cup to represent Great Britain against Australia, along with boyfriend Alex de Minaur in January, 2025. While de Minaur was busy winning his first round match in Vienna, Boulter had a far easier time in Japan, and set. up a Round of 16 clash with Kyoka Okamura.

A 271st ranked lucky loser, Okamura stunned American qualifier and world number 80 Hayley Baptiste in straight sets 7-6 6-3, to join compatriots Moyuka Uchijima and Sayaka Ishii in the next round. It was a Japanese flavour on day two of the Pan Pacific Open with wildcard Nao Hibino also playing, but suffering a 6-2 6-3 defeat to another lucky loser in talented but injury prone Clara Tauson, 6-2 6-3.

The first Round of 16 action kicks off today with a couple of Canadians in action. US Open winner Bianca Andreescu will face second seed Beatriz Haddad Maia in the prime time evening clash, while first-up in the afternoon, eighth seed Leylah Fernandez locks horns with Frenchwoman Varvara Gracheva. Sixth seed Diana Shnaider is also in action going up against Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova, while Ishii will play back-to-back days, taking on fellow qualifier, Zeynep Sonmez.

AROUND THE TOUR

Meanwhile in Guangzhou at the WTA 250 event, the Round of 32 was completed overnight with most of the top seeds advancing through to the second round. Tournament favourite Katerina Siniakova made light work of qualifier and former Top 20 player Petra Martic 6-2 6-1, while second seed and fellow Czech Marie Bouzkova raced past Suzan Lamens 6-3 6-1, with the Dutch talent coming off her maiden title in Osaka just a couple of days earlier.

There were a stack of Chinese hopes in action as well led by third seed Yue Yuan who defeated Greet Minnen, while compatriot Shuai Zhang upset Russian eighth seed Kamilla Rakhimova. The only other seed to lose was Armenian Elina Avanesyan who bowed out to Italian Lucia Bronzetti, while American trio Caroline Dolehide, Alycia Parks and Bernarda Pera all marched into the second round.

Other winners on day two were fifth seeded Frenchwoman Diane Parry, seventh seeded Spaniard Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, Chinese teenager Han Shi and compatriot Xiyu Wang, and Thai qualifier Mananchaya Sawangkaew.

The first of the Round of 16 matches pits Bouzas Maneiro against Shi, Wang against Sijia Wei in an all-Chinese clash, Bronzetti against Jaqueline Cristian and Parry taking on Serbian Olga Danilovic today.