Alexandra Shubladze has reached the round of 16 at the tournament in Jingshan. In the second round match, the Russian, seeded sixth, defeated Japan's Rina Saigo 7-5 6-3. The WTA 125 event is being played on hard courts with a prize fund of $115,000, according to api.tennis.
The first set proved to be the most closely fought of the match, with Shubladze taking it 7-5. The gap widened in the second set as the Russian closed out the win 6-3, not dropping a single set to her opponent.
Ranking and form
According to rank.tennis, Shubladze is ranked 163rd in the world with 451 points, while Saigo, who entered the tournament unseeded, sits at 301st with 230 points. This was Shubladze's first career win over the Japanese player, putting their head-to-head record at 1-0.
Ahead of Jingshan, Shubladze competed in Seoul, where she beat Gaeul Jang 6-0 6-1 in the first round before losing to Daria Astakhova 4-6 4-6 in the second. At the US Open, the Russian lost to Daria Semenistaya 6-7(7) 4-6. Saigo has picked up just one win in her recent matches: in Prague she defeated Viktoriya Bervid 6-1 6-2 before falling to Veronika Podrez 4-6 1-6, and in Seoul she lost to Alevtina Ibragimova 3-6 2-6.