Denisa Allertova of the Czech Republic has defeated top seed Simona Halep in straight sets in the quarter-finals of the WTA Guangzhou worldwide Women’s Open.
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Halep, ranked number two in the world, downed Babos 6-4, 6-0.
Halep was broken three times in the first set and once more in the second as Allertova took 72 minutes to complete her surprise 6-4 6-3 victory.
Fourth seed Jelena Jankovic was pushed all the way by former French Open victor Francesca Schiavone before eventually booking her place in the quarter-finals.
Their clash included a remarkable 17 breaks of serve and Errani wasted two set points in the first before Zhang moved ahead, but the Italian quickly rallied and came through 6-7 (6-8) 6-4 6-2.
Unseeded Allertova pulled off the biggest upset of the tournament so far, beating the Romanian on Thursday, 6-4 6-3.
Sixth seed Monica Niculescu of Romania beat Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva 7-6 (7/5), 1-6, 6-3, needing a tiebreaker to win the first set.
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Eighth seed and home favourite Saisai Zheng moved past Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit with a hard-fought 6-1 7-6 (13/11) win in the opening match on Court One.
