Shenzhen Open: Day 5 wrap – Fourth, fifth and sixth seed head into quarter finals
DAY 5 of the Shenzhen Open saw only four matches take place ahead of the quarter finals.
The first of the day saw Shelby Rogers have a slow start against Spaniard, Garbine Muguruza, going down 1-6 6-7. Despite a disappointing first set, Rogers fought her way back into contention, but fell at the final hurdle as Muguruza reigned supreme with 10 aces and confidence to boot. A quick start from Muguruza had her win the first set with ease but she was challenged in the second as Rogers put her best foot forward, winning 68.1 per cent of her first serve points as opposed to the opening set at only 36.4 per cent.
Anna Blinkova had a similarly sloppy start to her match against Kazakh, Zarina Diyas, with the Russian evening up the battle in the second set and taking it to a tiebreaker – all but mirroring the prior match over the first two hours. Blinkova took control at the end of the second set, working her way into the match and winning the tense tiebreaker 7-6 [11-9] to hold on to chances of victory. An even start to the third set saw neither player find much ground before Diyas took control, running out victor, 1-6 7-6 4-6.
Peng Shuai went head to head with Ekaterina Alexandrova with the pair relatively even to begin. Shuai put in the hard yards in the opening set, not allowing fifth seed Alexandrova to get the upper hand but eventually going down 6-7 after heading to a first set tiebreak, before Alexandrova had a hot start to the second set. Peng was unable to capitalise after a solid first set, only collecting the one game in the second and eventually going down 6-7 1-6.
The last match saw an intriguing battle play out between fourth seed Wang Qiang and Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich. Wang won the first set with ease before Sasnovich switched it on in the second, denying Qiang a single game to make it a massive fight to the finish. With a massive third set ahead Qiang worked her way back into the match with it eventually coming to a tiebreaker finish. The intensity was palpable with Sasnovich so close to taking victory but Qiang did enough to get over the line, 6-4 0-6 7-6.
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