BEIJING, Oct 5: Fifth-seeded David Ferrer advanced to the quarterfinals of the China Open with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Fabio Fognini on Wednesday.
Ferrer, who reached the China Open final in 2010 and the semifinals last year before losing to Novak Djokovic both times, is still chasing his first title of the season. The Spaniard has won at least one ATP title in all but one year since 2006.
British qualifier Kyle Edmund had a 6-4, 4-6, 6-6 upset win over seventh-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut and could meet No. 1 ranked Andy Murray in the next stage.
On the women�s side, World number one Angelique Kerber won her second round match with a straight sets win over Barbora Strycova in Beijing.
The German defeated Strycova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-6 (4) in a match lasting one hour and 36 minutes and will face 16th seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine next after she beat Germany�s Sabine Lisicki 6-4, 6-4.
In the opening set, things went with serve until the sixth game when Strycova dropped her serve to fall behind 2-4 but broke right back, then dropped her own serve for a second time, for Kerber to serve out the set 6-4.
In the second, there were a total of eight breaks of serve and the match went on to be decided by a tie-break which the 28-year-old Kerber won 7-4 to claim the match.
British number one Johanna Konta boosted her hopes of reaching the WTA Finals in Singapore by beating Hungary�s Timea Babos in straight sets to reach the third round.
Konta won 7-5, 6-2 and will now face the Czech Republic�s Karolina Pliskova.
Konta, 25, is 11th in the race to Singapore, with only the top eight qualifying for the tournament, which takes place from October 23-30. Konta could also break into the world�s top 10 for the first time if she continues her run at the China Open.
Currently ranked 14th, she would join Virginia Wade, Sue Barker and Jo Durie as the only Britons to achieve the feat on the WTA Tour.
US Open runner-up Karolina Pliskova rallied for a tough 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7) win over 19-year-old Daria Kasatkina in almost 2 and a half hours.
In an upset, unseeded Daria Gavrilova of Australia downed Swiss 12th seed Timea Bacsinszky 4-6, 6-0, 6-4 in over two hours and Caroline Garcia of France beat hometown player Peng Shuai 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (4) in a tight match lasting two hours and 28 minutes. � Agencies
