DESPITE a ranking of 132, Thai qualifier Mananchaya Sawangkaew is through to the quarter finals of the Singapore Tennis Open after defeating former world number 56, Cristina Bucsa in straight sets. The 22-year-old edged closer to a Top 100 birth thanks to a 6-4 6-4 triumph over the Spaniard to reach the last eight.

Sawangkaew has been in great form the last six months, with Singapore being her third WTA Tour quarter finals appearance after the Jiangxi Open and Guangzhou Open back-to-back last year. Though all three tournaments have come on her home continent in Asia, the Thai talent is starting to get her name out there.

Against Bucsa, Sawangkaew hit the same amount of winners and unforced errors as Bucsa (16 and 28 respectively), but critically won 64 per cent of her first serve points compared to the Spaniard’s 53 per cent. Neither are big servers or power players, but the Thai was able to convert five breaks to three, and outlast her opponent in an hour and 40 minutes.

Up next is a stiff challenge for the qualifier who takes on top seed Anna Kalinskaya. The Russian world number 18 is clearly the best player in the draw by a long way, but is returning from injury that saw her withdraw from the Australian Open. In her Round of 16 match, she batted away Swiss qualifier Simona Waltert 6-2 7-6, winning the second set 7-3 in the tiebreaker after being broken to love when serving for the match at 5-4.

If Sawangkaew was to win, it would be the biggest win of her career, but the Russian is tipped to get better with each match, and she showed it in patches against the hard-hitting Waltert, only committing 12 unforced errors for the match. She hit 15 winners’ to Waltert’s 33, but the Swiss world number 179 also hit 42 unforced errors and five faults to go with six aces.

In other results, Colombian young gun Maria Camila Osorio Serrano fought back from a set down against plucky Czech qualifier Dominika Salkova to win 3-6 6-2 6-4 and book her place in the Round of 16, while American Ann Li also secured a spot in the last eight courtesy of a simple 6-3 6-2 rout over lucky loser Maria Timofeeva.

The first half of the Round of 16 matches are done, with three Aussies in action this evening. Kimberly Birrell kicks off proceedings with the wildcard taking on American Hayley Baptiste for a spot in teh quarter finals, with Maya Joint and Olivia Gadecki playing later on against fourth seed Xinyu Wang and qualifier Jil Teichmann. The other Round of 16 match is Belgian second seed up against German Tatjana Maria.

SINGAPORE TENNIS OPEN WTA 250 – ROUND OF 16 RESULTS:

[1] Anna Kalinskaya (RUS) defeated [Q] Simona Waltert (SUI) 6-2 7-6
[6] Maria Camila Osorio Serrano (COL) defeated [Q] Dominika Salkova (CZE) 3-6 6-2 6-4
Ann Li (USA) defeated [LL] Maria Timofeeva (RUS) 6-3 6-2
[Q] Mananchaya Sawangkaew (THA) defeated Cristina Bucsa (ESP) 6-4 6-4