Barty only seed in Wuhan 1/4s

Wuhan has been the scene of disaster for the top female players, with number one seed Simona Halep, and fourth seed and defending champion Caroline Garcia, both exiting the tournament with first up losses.

Elina Svitolina (6) and Karolina Pliskova (8) followed them out the the door, also losing in round two after first round byes.

The third round continued the trend, with Caroline Wozniacki (2), Angie Kerber (3) and Petra Kvitova (5) falling by the wayside.

The only seed left as we reach the quarter finals is Ash Barty

WTA Wuhan round of sixteen results

• Ash Barty (16) defeated Angie Kerber (3), avenging her loss to the Wimbledon champion in the Sydney final in January this year.

Despite a reasonable 2018, Barty hadn’t beaten a top ten player since Wuhan last year, losing on seven occasions in those matches until now.

Barty opened proceedings well, breaking Kerber in the second game, and saving break points in the third to lead 3-0. It was Kerber unusually leaking unforced errors, and Barty hitting winners in a tidy exhibition.

Although her first serve percentage was poor, the Australian managed to back up her second delivery with solid all court tennis, troubling the German player.  Kerber saved a break point in the sixth game which would have seen Barty serve for the set.

Seemingly comfortable at 5-2, Barty let things slip, and Kerber broke back in the ninth game.  Another two chances for Kerber to break and lead 6-5 were batted off by Barty, who ultimately held for that advantage.

Then, against the flow, Barty broke, aided by two Kerber double faults, to win the set 7-5.

In set two, Barty saved a break point in the opening game, and after that dominated, cracking the German serve twice to lead 5-0.

Ash Barty served it out 7-5 6-1 to reach the quarter finals.

• Dominika Cibulková defeated Daria Kasatkina (13) 6-3 7-6(3)
• Aryna Sabalenka defeated qualifier Sofia Kenin 6-3 6-3, and will play Dominika Cibulková in the quarter finals 
• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova defeated Petra Kvitová (5) 3-6 6-3 6-3, and will play Ash Barty in the quarter finals 
• Anett Kontaveit defeated Shuai Zhang 6-4 4-6 6-1
• Wildcard Qiang Wang defeated Dasha Gavrilova 7-5 6-2
• Qualifier Monica Puig defeated Caroline Wozniacki (2) 7-6(10) 7-5, and will play Qiang Wang in the quarter finals 
• Qualifier Katerina Siniakova defeated Garbiñe Muguruza (14) 7-6(3) 7-6(1), and will play Anett Kontaveit in the quarter finals 

Muguruza led 5-1 in the first set, and by a break in the second, yet saw her advantage dissolve in both instances. The tie breaks still gave the Spaniard chances, but she was smashed by Siniakova in each of those.