Barty beats Kontaveit to reach quarterfinals

Cincinnati - Barty, the French Open champion and currently ranked second, can reclaim No. 1 by reaching the tournament final

Ashleigh Barty edged Anett Kontaveit 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 to reach the Western & Southern Open quarterfinals on Thursday. 
The top-seeded Barty clinched it with a deep forehand winner. She raised her right fist in triumph after fighting off one match point and outlasting Kontaveit in 2 hours, 10 minutes. 
Barty, the French Open champion and currently ranked second, can reclaim No. 1 by reaching the tournament final. 
On the men's side, qualifier Yoshihito Nishioka followed up his upset of sixth-seeded Kei Nishikori by defeating Alex De Minaur 7-5, 6-4.
On Wednesday, Barty overcame a slow start to defeat Maria Sharapova 6-4 6-1, while Simona Halep battled past Ekaterina Alexandrova 3-6 7-5 6-4 in the second round of the Cincinnati Masters on Wednesday.
World number one Naomi Osaka improved to 4-0 lifetime against Aliaksandra Sasnovich with a 7-6(3) 2-6 6-2 win. Third seeded Karolina Pliskova crushed lucky loser Wang Yafan 6-1 6-3 and Donna Vekic knocked out former champion Victoria Azarenka 6-2 7-5 to set up a showdown with Venus Williams on Thursday.
In the men's section, unseeded German Jan-Lennard Struff resisted a Stefanos Tsitsipas fightback while Serbian teenager Miomir Kecmanovic beat fifth-seed Alexander Zverev as two of the bigger upsets on Wednesday.
Struff, who has yet to win an ATP singles title in his decade-long career, was on top for most of the match against the 21-year old Greek. He served for the match in the second set but Tsitsipas managed to stay alive by taking the set on a tiebreak.
However, the German refused to give up and sealed the 6-4 6-7(5) 7-6(6) victory to set up a third round meeting with ninth-seed Daniil Medvedev, who beat France's Benoit Paire 7-6(2) 6-1.
Struff's compatriot Zverev was less consistent as he served a career-high 20 double faults in his 6-7(4) 6-2 6-4 defeat to the 19-year-old qualifier from Belgrade.- Reuters
Among the other surprises on Wednesday, world number five Kei Nishikori was beaten 7-6(2) 6-4 by Japanese qualifier Yoshihito Nishioka, while Canadian Denis Shapovalov also lost 6-4 6-4 to Lucas Pouille.