SHANGHAI, CHINA (TICKER) — Top seed Monica Seles of the United States continued her hot streak Wednesday with a 43-minute victory over Saori Obata of Japan in the second round of the $140,000 Kiwi Open hardcourt tennis event.
Seles stretched her winning streak to 10 matches with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Obata. The 26-year-old American has won her last two tournaments in Brazil and Japan.
“Today was a tougher match,” Seles said. “I had 30-0 and 40-0 on a couple of games in the first set, but she played some tougher points and I made too many mistakes. I got my rhythm back in the second set and felt much more comfortable out there.”
Seventh seed Rita Grande of Italy and Janet Lee of Taipei also reached the quarterfinals. Grande routed Ludmila Cervanova of Slovakia, 6-2, 6-2, and Lee dispatched Japan’s Rika Fujiwara, 6-0, 6-4.
In the final first-round match, fourth seed Ai Sugiyama of Japan posted a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Zsofia Gubasci of Hungary.
First prize is $22,000.