QUARTER finalists have been decided at the Chicago fall Tennis Classic, with the final four determined in Nur-Saltan with Indian Wells edging closer by the day.

CHICAGO FALL TENNIS CLASSIC WTA 500:

Japanese 200th ranked talent Mai Hontama has stunned onlookers at the Chicago Fall Tennis Classic by reaching the quarter final of the event, the only player outside the Top 50 to do so. The 22-year-old is in some good form, reaching a quarter final at the recent 125 event, and now matches that effort at the much higher calibre 500 tournament. After destroying Caroline Garcia in the first round 6-3 6-0, she received a fortunate walkover against recent Ostrava Open title winner Anett Kontaveit in the second round, and then fought hard to knock off United States’ Shelby Rogers in three sets.

Now Hontama will lock horns with Grand Slam winner and second seed Garbine Muguruza, who will be another step up again, following the Spaniard also having a walkover, this time against Belarusian Grand Slam winner, Victoria Azarenka. The walkover came after a relatively solid win over home nation youngster Ann Li, 6-4 6-4 in the second round.

The winner of that quarter final will take on either 10th seed Danielle Collins, or unseeded Czech Marketa Vondrousova in the semi-finals. The pair have earned their place in the quarters after respective wins over seventh seed Elise Mertens, and 16th seed Jil Teichmann respectively. The 2019 Roland Garros runner-up in Vondrousova also upset fourth seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second round.

Whilst Teichmann might have fallen, her Swiss compatriot Belinda Bencic got past a tough Tereza Martincova in straight sets, 6-2 7-6 to book her spot in the quarter finals. The Toyko Olympics gold medallist will face fifth seed Elena Rybakina in the next match after the Kazakh knocked off 12th seed Veronika Kudermetova in the Round of 16.

In the other quarter finals clash, top seed Elina Svitolina has cruised through to this point, defeated Romanian Elena-Gabriela Ruse and Amanda Anisimova to take on sixth seed Ons Jabeur in the remaining eight. After wiping the floor with Su-Wei Hsieh in the seccond round 6-1 6-0, Jabeur came back from a shocking first set to put ninth seed Jessica Pegula away, 1-6 6-2 6-3.

ASTANA OPEN WTA 250:

Meanwhile in Nur-Saltan, the semi-finalists have been decided with the tournament a day ahead of the Chicago draw given players need to return from Europe for Indian Wells. The top two seeds are through to the final four, led by top seed and home nation representative Yulia Putintseva. The Kazakh will take on sixth seed Swede Rebecca Peterson in the semi-finals, with second seed Alison Van Uytvanck locking horns with Romanian Jacqueline Cristian.

Putintseva had to overcome a real challenge from Russian Anastasia Gasanova in the quarter finals, needing three sets to win, though powering through the last without dropping a game. The Kazakh won 6-3 4-6 6-0 following straight sets wins over Belarusian Vera Lapko and Georgian Ekaterine Gorgodze. She now faces Peterson who had to defeated Russian Anastasia Potapova in an even tighter three-set contest, 6-4 6-7 6-4.

In the bottom half of the draw, second seed Van Uytvanck took care of seventh seed Russian Varvara Gracheva 6-4 6-3, for the Belgian to set her sights on Cristian. The Romanian unseeded player toppled eighth seed Frenchwoman Clara Burel in the Round of 16 in a come-from-behind win 6-7 6-1 6-2 before running over Serbian Aleksandra Krunic in straight sets in the quarter finals, 6-4 6-3.

From a rankings perspective, Peterson (plus-12) and Van Uytvanck (plus-11) have received important boosts, moving into 74th and 78th on the overall World Rankings, with Cristian advancing to 111th in the world, a rise of 15 places.

CHALLENGER TOUR:

At the W80 event in Le Neubourg, France, top seed Danka Kovinic was bundled out in three sets, including two heartbreaking tiebreakers, by Dane Arianne Hartono in the second round, 4-6 7-6 7-6. Hartono will now face Italian Cristiana Ferrando who toppled another seed in seventh seed Frenchwoman Jessika Ponchet, 6-7 6-2 6-2. Second seed Harmony Tan also lost in the second round at her home event. going down to United States’ Robin Anderson who will take on rising 18-year-old Russian Oksana Selekhmeteva in the quarter finals. In-form Hungarian Anna Bondar will eye off two straight ITF tournaments facing Australian Olivia Gadecki next in the final eight, whilst third seed Mihaela Buzarnescu and fifth seed Amandine Hesse will lock horns in the last quarter final.

Despite coming in as the raging favourite at the lowly W60 event in Berkeleyside, top seed Chinese talent Saisai Zheng was bundled out in the first round by Russian Maria Kozreva. Whilst the event is only into its second round, second seed and Saisai’s compatriot Xinyu Wang was also knocked out, this time by an American, Sachia Vickery. There are 10 United States representatives in the Round of 16, and at least one in each match, shaping up like a good tournament for the home nation.

Picture credit: WTA Tour