The American Coco Gauff, seeded N.4, returned to the Top 5 after her title in Beijing, the second of her season after Auckland in January, maintained her good momentum by outclassing the Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk (17th) in one hour of play, 6-4, 6-1 in Wuhan. The 20-year-old will face Polish Magda Linette (45th) in the quarter-finals.
Jasmine Paolini, seeded No.3 and finalist of two Grand Slam tournaments (Roland-Garros and Wimbledon) this year, won easily against the Russian Erika Andreeva (70th), in two sets, 6-3 , 6-2.
Jessica Pegula, recent finalist of the US Open and winner of three WTA 1000 tournaments in her career, after winning her entry match by retirement, lost to the local Xinyu Wang, 51st in the world, after a second set tight, 6-3, 7-5. The Chinese, who has yet to win any title in her career, will face Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova (33rd) in the quarter-finals.
The Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (2nd), in search of first place in the world before the end of the year, will have to win her match against the Kazakh Yulia Putintseva (35th) this afternoon to gain valuable points and put pressure on her rival Iga Swiatek.
