WTA roundup: McCartney Kessler reaches Ningbo quarters

Unseeded American McCartney Kessler reached the Ningbo Open quarterfinals Thursday with a 7-6 (5), 6-1 victory over eighth-seeded Russian Liudmila Samsonova in Ningbo, China.

Kessler raced to a 5-1 lead in the opening set before dropping five straight games. She pulled it together during the tiebreaker and finished off Samsonova in an hour and 42 minutes. She will face No. 4 Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia in the final eight.

It was the only upset of the day at the WTA 500 event. No. 2 Jasmine Paolini of Italy defeated Veronika Kudermetova of Russia 6-2, 7-5. No. 3 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan outlasted Ukraine's Dayana Yastremska 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3. Alexandrova was a 6-3, 6-3 winner against China's Yue Yuan.

Japan Open

No. 4 Leylah Fernandez of Canada was the only seeded player to survive a day of upsets in Osaka, breezing to a 6-1, 6-4 win over Hungary's Dalma Galfi in 79 minutes.

Fernandez won 81% of the points on her first serve and saved the only break point she faced to set up a quarterfinal meeting with Slovakia's Rebecca Sramkova. Sramkova knocked off seventh-seeded American Ann Li, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

Also shown the exits at the WTA 250 tournament Thursday were No. 3 seed Elise Mertens of Belgium and No. 5 Marie Bouzkova. Her fellow Czech, Tereza Valentova, overwhelmed Mertens 6-4, 6-1 and Switzerland's Viktorija Golubic rallied past Bouzkova 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 (3) in two hours and 45 minutes.

--Field Level Media