Cibulková d Stephens - now in Beijing 1\4s

As the final round two WTA matches in Beijing were being completed, the first round of sixteen battles took place.

One was a beauty.  

Sloane Stephens (9) began to a Slovak barrage, Dominika Cibulková winning the opening three games of the contest.  However, the 2017 US Open champion soon settled, and took full toll of Cibulková’s growing unforced error count.

Cibulková could only win 55% of points on her first serve, allowing Stephens to break twice and claim the first set 6-4.

Still struggling to win an acceptable amount of points on her first serve in set two, Dominika was able to break the American serve early anyway.

Stephens replied in kind two games later, but the determined Slovakian wanted a third set, and broke twice more, blocking three chances presented to Stephens on the way.  The match was level 4-6 6-2

In the decider, Stephens has a first serve percentage of 84, but it mattered little as Cibulková returned both first and second deliveries well enough to set up a 4-0 lead.

Sloane stopped the run of seven straight games by recovering one of the service breaks, and at 2-4 she still harboured hopes of victory 

Cibulková held strong, though, and the remaining games went to serve, the final one clinched by Dominika, who booked a quarter final spot 4-6 6-2 6-3.

This is the second quarter final in successive weeks for Cibulková, and fifth for the year. (one being Wimbledon) Two of those eventually resulted in a final appearance - Budapest and Strasbourg 

• Anastasija Sevastova defeated Donna Vekic 6-3 6-2, and she will play Dominika Cibulková in the quarter finals 

ATP Beijing second round matches 

• Juan Martin del Potro (1) defeated Karen Khachanov 6-4 7-6(4)
• Filip Krajinovic defeated wildcard Feliciano López 7-6(5) 6-3, and he will play Juan Martin del Potro in the quarter finals 
• Kyle Edmund (5) defeated qualifier Matteo Berrettini 7-5 6-7(2) 7-5
• Qualifier Dusan Lajovic defeated Grigor Dimitrov (3) 6-4 2-6 6-4, and will play Kyle Edmund in the quarter finals 

ATP Tokyo

 First round matches

• Alex de Minaur defeated Gilles Simon 6-7(1) 7-6(5) 6-2 
• Nick Kyrgios defeated wildcard Yoshihito Nishioka 7-5 7-6(3)
• Kevin Anderson (2) defeated Matthew Ebden 4-6 7-6(1) 6-2

Second round matches 

• Denis Shapovalov defeated Stan Wawrinka 4-6 6-1 6-4
• Qualifier Daniil Medvedev defeated qualifier Martin Klizan 6-4 6-3
• Milos Raonic (6) defeated qualifier Yosuke Watanuki 6-3 7-6(2), and will play Daniil Medvedev in the quarter finals 
• Kei Nishikori (3) defeated Benoit Paire 6-3 7-5