Samsonova maintains hot streak to reach last eight in Tokyo

Russian Liudmila Samsonova continued her superb run of form as she reached the last eight of the Tokyo Open by defeating Chinese Xinyu Wang 7-6 (5), 6-3 at the Ariake Coliseum and Ariake Tennis Forest Park i Tokyo on Thursday night.

Samsonova, ranked No 30, will play Spaniard Garbine Muguruza, the No 3 seed, next.

The Russian, who won back to back titles in Washington and Cleveland and who beat Leylah Fernandez on her way to the last 16 at the US Open, beat Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, the No 8 seed (6-2, 6-4) in the previous round.

Wang, ranked No 78, edged out Australian qualifier Ellen Perez (7-5, 1-6, 6-4) in round one.

Tokyo WTA 500, other second-round results (Ariake Coliseum and Ariake Tennis Forest Park, hard, USD 757.900, most recent results first):

• Beatriz Haddad Maia beat Naomi Osaka w/o
• Veronika Kudermetova beat Fernanda Contreras Gomez 6-0, 6-1
• Petra Martic beat Karolina Pliskova (6): 6-3, 6-4
• Claire Liu beat Elise Mertens: 6-4, 6-1
• Qinwen Zheng beat Paula Badosa (1): 6-3, 6-2
• Shuai Zhang beat Caroline Garcia (2): 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5)
• Garbine Muguruza beat Despina Papamichail (Q): 6-4, 6-2