Maya Joint has charged into the quarter-finals of the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, beating Spain’s Cristina Bucsa 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 to keep her surprise run alive.
The Australian qualifier won the round-of-16 match on centre court on Wednesday 28 October, according to the official tournament results.
Joint, ranked 94th, broke serve five times against the world No.42 and saved 10 of the 14 break points she faced, match statistics on Tennis.com show. It also turned around a loss to Bucsa in the Hong Kong semi-finals last year.
From qualifying to the last eight
Joint had to come through two rounds of qualifying just to make the main draw of the WTA 500 event, beating Viktorija Golubic and Mai Hontama.
Read more: Kim Birrell beats Maya Joint in an all-Australia WTA Final in Seoul
She then knocked out sixth seed and world No.16 Sorana Cirstea 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) in the first round, AAP reported. Joint reached a career-high ranking of 28 in February, but her ranking had slipped through the year before this tournament.
The run continues a strong finish to her season. She made the final of last month’s Korea Open in Seoul, where she lost to fellow Australian Kim Birrell, the ABC reported.
Kamilla Rakhimova up next
Joint will face Uzbekistan’s Kamilla Rakhimova in the quarter-finals. Rakhimova beat Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5) in the opening match on centre court on Wednesday, the official results show.
Read more: Talia Gibson reaches her first WTA final
There will be no all-Australian quarter-final. Talia Gibson won the first set against eighth seed Alexandra Eala but lost 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 in their night match, AAP reported. Eala will next play third seed Diana Shnaider.
Birrell, who got into the main draw as a lucky loser, plays American Alycia Parks in the round of 16 on Thursday. Joint is also still alive in the doubles, with she and Storm Hunter playing Ellen Perez and Demi Schuurs in the quarter-finals on Thursday.
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