Tokyo Open: Liu books spot in last quarter finals, defeating Mertens

American Claire Liu won against Belgian Elise Mertens 6-4, 6-1 to reach the last eight of the Tokyo Open at the Ariake Coliseum and Ariake Tennis Forest Park on Wednesday.

Liu, ranked No 84, will face Chinese Qinwen Zheng next.

Ahead of her victory, the 22-year-old American defeated No 7 seed Alison Riske-Amritraj (6-2, 6-3).

Mertens, ranked No 44, beat Chinese Qiang Wang (6-0, 6-3) in the previous round of the Toray Pan Pacific Open Tennis Tournament.

Tokyo WTA 500, other second-round results (Ariake Coliseum and Ariake Tennis Forest Park, hard, USD 757.900, most recent results first):

• Naomi Osaka vs. Beatriz Haddad Maia : to be played
• Veronika Kudermetova vs. Fernanda Contreras Gomez : to be played
• Liudmila Samsonova vs. Xinyu Wang : to be played
• Karolina Pliskova vs. Petra Martic : to be played
• Qinwen Zheng beat Paula Badosa (1): 6-3, 6-2
• Shuai Zhang beat Caroline Garcia (2): 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5)
• Garbine Muguruza (3) beat Despina Papamichail (Q): 6-4, 6-2