Former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova reached the quarterfinals of the Tianjin Open Thursday via a 7-5, 6-3 triumph over Madga Linette. Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam champion, hit three aces to beat Linette in one hour and 38 minutes. Sharapova is still looking for her first title since returning from a 15-month suspension due to the use of a banned substance. Sharapova credited the victory to her aggressive game in the opening set, the momentum of which carried her all the way to the second set and the victory. For a spot in the semifinals, Sharapova will play qualifier Stefanie Voegele, a 6-2, 6-3 winner over fifth seed Yulia Putintseva in one hour and 37 minutes.
In other matches, defending champion and third seed Peng Shuai also reached the quarterfinals after beating Wang Xiyu in straight sets; Christina McHale stunned sixth seed Maria Sakkari in straight sets; Sara Errani downed Beatriz Haddad Maia in three sets; Lin Zhu downed Su-Wei Hsieh, 6-3, 6-1; Aryna Sabalenka beat Ying-Ying Duan, 6-3, 6-3; and Sorribes Tormo beat Yafan Wang in three sets.
Sorana Cirstea, Magdalena Rybarikova win in Austria
Fifth seed Sorana Cirstea defeated Natalia Vikhlyantseva, 7-6(14), 6-4, to make it to the quarterfinals of the Upper Austria Ladies' Linz for the first time in six years. Cirstea needed 80 minutes to take the opening set and won four of the first five games of the second set to take the win after two hours and 11 minutes of play.
Top seed Magdalena Rybarikova and second seed Barbora Strycova also reached the quarterfinals after beating Carina Witthoeft and Jana Fett, respectively. Viktorija Golubic and Johanna Larsson also made it to the quarterfinals.
Nadal, Federer barge into Shanghai quarterfinals
World No. 1 Rafael Nadal defeated Fabio Fognini in straight sets to make it to the quarterfinal round of the Shanghai Rolex Masters.
Nadal raced to a 3-0 lead in the first set and a 3-1 lead in the second set to finish off Fognini in just 62 minutes and advance to his fourth quarterfinal in Shanghai. The win improved Nadal’s record against Fognini to 10-3. Nadal will take on sixth seed Grigor Dimitrov next, whom he leads, 9-1, in their head-to-head showdown.
World No. 2 Roger Federer also advanced via a 6-4, 6-2 win over Alexandr Dolgopolov, keeping his pursuit of a second Shanghai Rolex Masters title alive. The 36-year-old Federer will play Richard Gasquet next for a spot in the semifinals. Gasquet reached the quarterfinals after beating Gilles Simon in three sets.
