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Sevastova meets Wozniacki in final, Nishikori faces Medvedev for title

By Jacob Akindele
07 October 2018   |   3:59 am
Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia stunned Naomi Osaka of Japan, 6/4; 6/4 and will now face Caroline Wozniacki, who defeated China’s Qiang Wang for the title in women’s finals. Across the Sea of Japan, Kei Nishikori defeated France’s Richard Gasquet to set up a title match with Russia’s Daniil Medvedev. Osaka had survived home crowd’s favourite,…

Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark prepares to receive a service during her women’s singles semi-final match against Wang Qiang of China at the China Open tennis tournament in Beijing on October 6, 2018.<br />Wozniacki won 6-1, 6-3. / AFP PHOTO / FRED DUFOUR

Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia stunned Naomi Osaka of Japan, 6/4; 6/4 and will now face Caroline Wozniacki, who defeated China’s Qiang Wang for the title in women’s finals.

Across the Sea of Japan, Kei Nishikori defeated France’s Richard Gasquet to set up a title match with Russia’s Daniil Medvedev.

Osaka had survived home crowd’s favourite, S. Zhang 3/6; 6/4; 7/5 in a quarter-final duel full of emotional outburst by the US Open champion who committed a whopping 66 unforced errors. She had to fight back from 1-4 in that final set.

Apparently exhausted, she lost in straight sets to the Latvian in the semi-finals.

For the men in Beijing, top-seeded Del Potro did not have to hit a ball as his semi-final opponent, Fabio Fognini retired. The Argentinean will face Nikoloz Basilashvilli, who beat Kyle Edmund for the title.

The Georgian had an easy 6/2; 6/2 victory over Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri who had stunned second seeded Alexander Zverev in the three set (7/6; 2/6; 6/4) upset over the world number four.

In Tokyo, Richard Gasquet defeated Kevin Anderson in the quarter-final with two close sets 7/6 (6); 7/6 (4) for a heart-breaking loss for the South African.

However, Gasquet lost to the home hero Kei Nishikori 7/6 (2); 6/1 to set up the final match with Daniil Medvedev.

The Russian had entered through the Qualifying Tournament where he barely escaped defeat in the final round.

If he wins the Tokyo title, it will be the second time this year that he will take a title as a qualifier, as he did in Sydney Australia in January.

The story of the week and Asian Circuit, however, is about German Alexander Zverez who arrived straight from Laver Cup in Chicago and suffered a bad loss in the first round of Chengdu Tournament. Exhaustion and jet lag could not be ruled out.

With his shocking loss to 34-year old Malek Jaziri, ranked 61 in the world, Sascha should go and have some rest preparatory to the season-ending ATP Tour Finals in London starting on November 17.

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