Li Na joins top seeds in Beijing but Gasquet out

Li Na joined top seeds Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova in the last eight of the China Open yesterday but there was a shock in the men’s draw with Richard Gasquet losing to a Chinese wild card. China’s Li, who is banking on a good week to help her qualify for the $4.9 million season-ending WTA Championships in Istanbul, needed three sets and a tie break to overcome compatriot Peng Shuai. The former French Open champion finally won 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7/3) after almost two hours and 30 minutes. Asia’s only Grand Slam winner will play defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska in the quarterfinals of the Beijing tournament. World number one and first seed Azarenka dispatched Russian qualifier Elena Vesnina 6-3, 6-3 to set up a quarterfinal tie with Switzerland’s Romina Oprandi. The 23-year-old from Belarus has yet to drop a set in the tournament, defeating France’s Alize Cornet 6-1, 6-0 in the first round and Sabine Lisicki of Germany 6-4, 6-2 in the second. Second-seed Sharapova, number two in the WTA rankings behind Azarenka, defeated Slovenian qualifier Polona Hercog, ranked 90th in the world, 6-0, 6-2 at the capital’s National Tennis Stadium. Sharapova, 25, had beaten Romania’s Simona Halep 7-5, 7-5 in the first round and Sorana Cirstea, also of Romania, 6-2, 6-2 in round two. Sharapova will face her first real test of the Premier Mandatory event in the next round when she takes on fifth seed Angelique Kerber of Germany. Kerber, ranked sixth in the world, defeated former world number one Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 6-1, 2-6, 6-4. The China Open is the fourth and final compulsory tournament of the women’s calendar, behind only the Grand Slams and end-of-season Championships in prestige. Kerber’s win came shortly after she discovered she had qualified for the Championships later this month, along with Czech Petra Kvitova and Sara Errani of Italy. The three will compete with Azarenka, Sharapova, Radwanska and Serena Williams, leaving only one place in the race up for grabs. That position is currently held by Li. In the men’s section, fifth-seed Gasquet of France suffered a second-round loss to lowly-ranked Zhang Ze in three sets. Zhang defeated last week’s Thailand Open winner 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to record the biggest victory of his career. Berdych in quarters In Tokyo, world No.6 Tomas Berdych reached the quarterfinals of the Japan Open on Thursday after beating Colombia’s Alejandro Falla in a straightforward 6-3, 7-5 win. The 2008 Tokyo champion, from the Czech Republic, beat Falla in just 78 minutes and without facing a single break point. The win sets up a quarterfinal clash on Friday with eighth seed Kei Nishikori of Japan, who beat Tommy Robredo of Spain 5-7, 6-1, 6-0. Berdych said of Nishikori: “We pl In other matches on Thursday, third seed Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia beat Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland 6-4, 6-2, while sixth seed Milos Raonic of Canada went through when Serb Viktor Troicki retired with a calf injury. Arab news