GUANGZHOU — Denisa Allertova of the Czech Republic defeated top seed Simona Halep in straight sets in quarterfinal play Thursday in the WTA Guangzhou International Women's Open. Unseeded Allertova pulled off the biggest upset of the tournament so far, beating the Romanian 6-4, 6-3. Halep, ranked No. 2 in the world, was defeated in the semifinals of the US Open this month by eventual champion Flavia Pennetta of Italy. In another upset, unseeded Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium defeated Romania's Monica Niculescu, the No. 6 seed, 6-2, 6-2. Sara Errani, seeded third, overwhelmed No. 8 seed Zheng Saisai, China's top player, 6-1, 6-0, leaving no more Chinese singles players in the event. And in the only battle of seeded players, Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, No. 4, defeated fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, 6-2, 7-5. Ivanovic wins In Tokyo, defending champion Ana Ivanovic survived a brave challenge from Italian Camila Giorgi Thursday at the Pan Pacific Open, managing a tough 7-5, 6-2 victory. The victory put the Serb second seed in a quarterfinal against Dominika Cibulkova in a rematch of the US Open where Ivanivic was ousted by the Slovak. Cibulkova beat sixth-seed Carla Suarez Navarro 6-4, 6-4. In other matches, Agnieszka Radwanska, 2011 Pan Pacific winner, cruised by Elina Svitolina with a 6-4, 6-1 victory. In the quarterfinals, the seventh-seed Pole will face fourth-seed Czech rising star Karolina Pliskova, who beat Kurumi Nara of Japan 6-2, 6-4. Klizan advances In France, sixth-seeded Martin Klizan advanced to the quarterfinals of the Open de Moselle with a 6-4, 7-6 (7) win over Canadian Vasek Pospisil Thursday. The 35th-ranked Slovakian needed nearly two hours to win a match that featured just one break of serve. Klizan will next face either Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert or fourth-seeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain. On Wednesday, third-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga overcame some tough resistance from qualifier Mischa Zverev to reach the quarterfinals with a 7-6 (5), 6-7 (8), 6-3 victory. Gilles Muller of Luxembourg hit 17 aces to make it to the quarterfinals with a 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2) win over eighth-seeded Fernando Verdasco. Stephens thru In Seoul, American Sloane Stephens cruised past Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm to advance to the quarterfinals of the WTA Korea Open Thursday. Third-seeded Stephens defeated 44-year-old Date-Krumm, champion in Seoul in 2009, 6-3, 6-4 in the second round of the tournament. Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus, ranked 136th in the world, meanwhile earned a surprise win over Magdalena Rybarikova, currently ranked 73rd, defeating the Slovak 6-3, 6-3. Russia's Elizaveta Kulichkova also breezed past the fourth-seeded American Varvara Lepchenko 6-0, 6-2, while Romanian Irina Begu, ranked 29th in the world, defeated Slovenian Polona Hercog after a tough battle, eventually winning 6-2, 6-7 (6-8), 6-2. Davis Cup draw This year's Davis Cup finalists Britain and Belgium have been handed home draws in the first round of the 2016 competition. The draw for next year's elite World Group, which took place at the International Tennis Federation's annual general meeting Wednesday, gave Belgium a home fixture against Croatia while Britain will host Japan from March 4-6, 2016. Belgium will host this year's final against an Andy Murray-led Britain at Ghent on clay from Nov. 27-29. Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Serbia will also host matches in the opening round. Australia plays the United States in the first round. Elsewhere in next year's opening World Group round, Serbia hosts Kazakhstan, Switzerland plays at Italy, Poland is at home against Argentina, Canada travels to France and Germany hosts Czech Republic. The 2016 quarterfinals have been set for July 15-17, the semifinals and World Group playoffs for Sept. 16-18 and the 2016 final for Nov. 25-27. — Agencies
