|
BEIJING, Oct. 4-- The quarterfinals of the China Open wrapped up here Friday with most of the top seeds advancing on both men's and women's sides, although there were a few casualties on deck including a previous champion. In the day's first match on the Diamond Court, world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty came back from one set down to defeat Petra Kvitova 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Kvitova was tighter out of the gate, and the Czech took the first set with a crucial break at 2-2 after some good movement from the baseline and a couple of big returns. Into the second set, Kvitova looked a step ahead of Barty from the off, though the Australian showed some steely resolve to save five break points to 5-4, before breaking Kvitova with a delightful lob in the set's final game to take things to a decider. Kvitova again hit back, breaking Barty in the first game before the Australian immediately leveled things up with a break of her own. Playing tactically smart and efficient tennis, Barty notched another break later in the set as the Czech began to tire, before successfully serving for the match to secure a hard-fought win in just over two hours. Barty now faces Kiki Bertens, after the Dutch eighth seed defeated No. 3 seed Elina Svitolina 7-6 (6), 6-2. After a marathon first set that ran for over one hour and saw both players break serve once, Bertens raised her level in the second set, easily besting Svitolina on both service and return and breaking the Ukrainian's serve twice on the way to winning in one hour and 42 minutes. | 
