A DOMINANT purple patch when 5-4 down in the first set lit the flame of top seed Qinwen Zheng in Tokyo as the Chinese talent won the last nine games of the match against local hope Moyuka Uchijima to reach the Pan Pacific Open quarter finals.

Uchijima took it up to Zheng early, was no match for the Top 10 star when her opponent went to another level. As is so often the case, as soon as Zheng started getting her first serves in, it was game over. Her serving efficiency rose to 58 per cent in the second set after being a poor 47 per cent in the first set and that enabled her to play to her strengths.

The world number seven only dropped four of her first serve points all match, and won 10 of 11 in her dominant second set to finish off her 57th ranked opponent, 7-5 6-0. By comparison, Uchijima only won seven points on serve in the second set, and though she created three break point opportunities despite Zheng’s dominance on serve, could not capitalise on them, while her Chinese opponent broke in all three games.

Zheng said post-match she was looking to try a few new things such as serve and volley, or approach mid-point just to change the rhythm of being a sole baseliner. A strong favourite for the title in Tokyo, Zheng will now take on Canadian eighth seed Leylah Fernandez in the quarter finals, just a fortnight after Zheng won their latest encounter back in Wuhan, 5-7 6-3 6-0.

“I think she’s a really good player, and she has a different game style compared to the others,” she said. “She takes the ball really early, so you don’t have too much time between the shots. You always have to be alert, and it’s not easy to play against her. But next time I will be on my best, like what I did last time.”

In other results, third seed Daria Kasatkina booked her place in the quarter finals with a come-from-behind victory over American McCartney Kessler, 3-6 6-3 6-1. She will now take on another United States representative in Sofia Kenin after the wildcard got past Danish lucky loser Clara Tauson in a thriller, 6-7 6-4 7-6.

In the other match, British ninth seed Katie Boulter dismantled local lucky loser Kyoka Okamura, only dropping three games in a 70-minute rout against the world number 271. She will take on Canadian wildcard Bianca Andreescu in the quarter finals. The remaining quarter final will be between sixth seeded Russian Diana Shnaider and Japanese qualifier Sayaka Ishii.

AROUND THE TOUR

A couple of massive upsets occurred in Guangzhou as the WTA 250 draw was shaken up with the last Round of 16 matches completed overnight. Two qualifiers took out top three seeds with American Caroline Dolehide – ranked 101st in the world – too good for Czech number 47 and second seed Marie Bouzkova. Dolehide won in an epic three-hour and 19-minute tussle.

Another huge upset was Thai qualifier Mananchaya Sawangkaew destroying third seed and local chance Yue Yuan in just 68 minutes. In the pair’s first ever encounter, the world number 163 was far too good for the 44th ranked Yuan, winning 6-2 6-3.

In the other two results, top seed Katerina Siniakova brought back some normality to the day’s action, overcoming lucky loser Alycia Parks 6-1 6-4, while American Bernarda Pera knocked off Chinese wildcard Shuai Zhang 6-2 6-2 in 65 minutes.