Tokyo: Kenin overcomes Tauson in third set tiebreak to reach last eight
The American will meet the winner of the match between American McCartney Kessler and Russian Daria Kasatkina, the No 3 seed, next
Sofia Kenin
American wildcard Sofia Kenin reached the quarter-finals of the WTA Toray Pan Pacific Open by edging out Danish lucky loser Clara Tauson 6-7 (8), 6-4, 7-6 (6) at the Ariake Coliseum on Thursday.
In a high-quality match, both players held their serve throughout the first set. Tauson saved a set point before converting her third to win it in a tiebreak. Kenin got the first break of the match in the 10th game of the second set to win it 6-4 and take the match into a deciding third set.
Tauson got her first break of the match deep in the third set as she broke for a 5-4 lead but Kenin broke back immediately. The American had a match point in the 12th game but the Dane saved it to take the match into a deciding tiebreak. Kenin finally converted on her third matchpoint to win it 8-6 and advance to her first quarter-final of the season in her 21st event.
Kenin, ranked No 155 and a former Australian Open champion, will play the winner of the match between American McCartney Kessler and Russian Daria Kasatkina, the No 3 seed, for a spot in the semi-finals.
The win also tied the head-to-head between the two players at 1-1. Tauson had won their previous encounter at this year’s French Open.
The American won against Chinese Xinyu Wang, the No 10 seed (6-1, 6-4) in the previous round of the tournament.
Earlier in the week, Tauson, ranked No 53 and a lucky loser this week, defeated Japanese wildcard Nao Hibino (6-2, 6-3).
Tokyo WTA 500, other second-round matches (Ariake Coliseum, hard, USD 922,573):
- Bianca Andreescu (WC) beat Beatriz Haddad Maia (2): 3-0 ret.
- Sayaka Ishii (Q) beat Zeynep Sonmez (Q): 4-6, 6-2, 6-3
- Diana Shnaider (6) beat Viktoriya Tomova: 6-2, 6-2
- Leylah Fernandez (8) beat Varvara Gracheva: 6-0, 3-6, 7-5
- Qinwen Zheng vs. Moyuka Uchijima
- Katie Boulter vs. Kyoka Okamura
- McCartney Kessler vs. Daria Kasatkina
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