Home favourite Kurumi Nara booked her place in the quarter-finals of the Japan Open with a straight sets victory over third seed Yulia Putintseva.
The 24-year-old came through 6-2 6-2 against the Russian on Thursday in Tokyo and will play Slovakian Jana Cepelova in the last eight.
There was disappointment for the other Japanese player in action though as Naomi Osaka lost 6-3 6-2 to Chinese sixth seed Shuai Zhang.
American seventh seed Christina McHale recovered from a set down to beat Rebecca Peterson 2-6 6-2 7-6 (7/4) and will face Swiss player Viktorija Golubic next after she won 6-2 6-7 (5/7) 6-3 against Poland's Magda Linette.
McHale's compatriot Alison Riske was the other player to progress on Thursday as she comfortably saw off Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-3 6-1 to set up a meeting with Katerina Siniakova.
Source: PA
