French Open champion Garbine Muguruza exacted revenge for a shock early exit at the US Open by thrashing Anastasija Sevastova to reach the Pan Pacific Open quarterfinals Thursday. The Spanish world No. 3, beaten in the second round by Sevastova in New York earlier this month, spanked the Latvian 6-3, 6-3 to storm into the last eight in Tokyo. Belarusian qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich upset US Open finalist Karolina Pliskova, the world No. 6, 6-4, 6-2 to set up a quarterfinal with Japanese teenage sensation Naomi Osaka. Elsewhere, Poland's Magda Linette battled to a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory over Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva and will next face former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark. Jankovic in semifinals In Beijing, defending champion Jelena Jankovic of Serbia beat Germany's Sabine Lisicki in the quarterfinals of the WTA Guangzhou International Women's Open Thursday, getting her a step closer to the $226,750 top prize. Second seed Jankovic beat 2013 Wimbledon finalist Lisicki 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 to advance to Friday's semifinals, where she will face third seeded Croatian Ana Konjuh. The tournament's two US players took a beating, with Konjuh knocking out American Jennifer Brady 6-4, 7-5 and Ukranian Lesia Tsurenko securing a win over fifth seed Alison Riske 3-6, 6-4, 6-0 in a match that lasted nearly two hours. Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland lost 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to Anett Kontaveit of Estonia. Cepelova in quarterfinals In Seoul, Jana Cepelova of Slovakia Thursday advanced to the Korea Open quarterfinals after beating the top seed and defending champion Irina-Camelia Begu. Cepelova, currently the world No. 102, defeated the world 23 Begu, who had won two titles at the Korea Open, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in 125 minutes. Cepelova previously made it into the semifinals at the WTA Tokyo last week before being ousted by Christina McHale in the final. Cepelova will next play Monica Niculescu, who beat Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-2, 6-2. In other second-round matches, Sara Sorribes Tormo upset fourth-seeded Kristina Mladenovic 1-6, 6-2, 6-4, and Patricia Maria Tig overpowered sixth-seeded Kirsten Flipkens 6-4, 6-4. Thiem makes last 8 In Metz, top-seeded Dominic Thiem of Austria beat German qualifier Peter Gojowczyk 7-5, 7-6 (2) to reach the Moselle Open quarterfinals Wednesday, furthering his bid to reach the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals for the first time. Next up for Thiem is sixth-seeded Gilles Muller of Luxembourg, who had nine aces in a 6-4, 6-2 win against Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili. Frenchman Julien Benneteau also reached the last eight with a 6-3, 6-4 win against Germany's Dustin Brown, who had 14 aces but dropped his serve three times. In remaining first-round matches, there were wins for No. 8 Nicolas Mahut of France, Malek Jaziri of Tunisia, Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France, Illya Marchenko of Ukraine and Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff. — Agencies
