Kratochvil and Gagliardi into quarters

Michel Kratochvil and Emmanuelle Gagliardi are both through to the quarter-finals of the Japan Open tennis tournament in Tokyo.

Kratochvil, the Swiss number two, saw off Germany’s Lars Bürgmuller in straight sets during the second round of the men’s draw while Gagliardi (WTA 98) needed three sets to down Indonesia’s Wynne Prakusya (WTA 87) in the women’s competition.

Thursday’s 6-3, 6-2 victory over the world number 73 saw Kratochvil (ATP 57) breeze into the last eight of an ATP tournament for the second time in three weeks. In September the 22-year-old from Bern went on to reach the final in Shanghai, before eventually losing to Germany’s Rainer Schüttler.

Swiss number four Ivo Heuberger (ATP 118) was unable to set up an all-Swiss encounter with Kratochvil in the quarter-finals. The 25-year-old from Altstätten, who was bidding to reach the last eight of an ATP tournament for the first time this season, was knocked out in straight sets (2-6, 4-6) on Thursday by Dutch world number 24 Sjeng Schalken.

Schalken will now be the one who goes on to play Kratochvil for a place in the semi-finals of the $800,000 event. The two men have yet to meet on the ATP Tour.

While Kratochvil’s success follows a relatively sustained period of good form, Gagliardi’s victory comes off the back of some disappointing recent performances.

Her 6-3, 1-6, 7-5 win over Prakusya marked the first time since the Wimbledon championships in June that the Swiss women’s number four has managed two victories in a row.

To pull off a hat-trick Gagliardi must now overcome Joanette Kruger in the quarter-finals. The South African player is currently more than 70 places above her Swiss opponent in the world rankings.

swissinfo with agencies