WTA quarterfinals set in Hong Kong

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Wilson Blade 9

The second round of the 2015 Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open wrapped up in a swift fashion on Thursday as three of the day’s four single matches were very clear-cut affairs in favor of big-name players.

Venus Williams breezed past China’s Yafan Wang in her second match in Hong Kong. The young Chinese was clearly overwhelmed by playing the former world #1 in front of a big crowd, managing to take away just two games from her encounter with the tennis legend.

France’s Caroline Garcia might not be as big a name in tennis yet, but her performance against Russia’s Anastasiya Komardina was every bit as impressive as Garcia swept by the lucky loser 6-0 in the first set. Carried by the crowd who was rooting for the unfortunate underdog, Komardina finally managed to get two games on the scoreboard in the second set as Garcia comfortably moved into the round of the last eight.

In the quarters, Garcia will meet Angelique Kerber, who punched her quarterfinal ticket against Japan’s Kurumi Nara. Like Williams and Garcia before, Kerber left her opponent little hope from the get-go, clinching a comfortable 6-2 6-2 win despite Nara’s best efforts to make an impact in the match.

The only encounter that broke the two-set mold on Thursday was the entertaining match between Alize Cornet and Yaroslava Shvedova that went the full three-set distance, including a first-set tiebreak. After Shvedova clinched the first set in her favor, Cornet rallied back to make the quarterfinals, joining fellow Frenchwoman Garcia in the round of the last eight. Despite the hard-fought match, there were no hard feelings between Cornet and Shvedova as both players later teamed up to play a successful doubles match.

Friday’s quarterfinals in Hong Kong give the Chinese fans a lot to look forward to, as four highly competitive match-ups are on schedule. Kerber vs. Garcia encounter is joined by Heather Watson’s match against Sam Stosur, Venus Williams vs. Alize Cornet and the evening match between former world #1 Jelena Jankovic and up-and-coming player Daria Gavrilova.

As usual, Women’s Tennis Blog will have you covered on all the action, so keep checking back as the 2015 Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open moves quickly to its exciting conclusion.

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