Hawkes Battles Into Yokohama Semi-Finals

Just 24 hours after despatching the sixth seed, New Zealand's unseeded Jaclyn Hawkes upset fourth seed Sharon Wee to reach the semi-finals of the Women's Traders United Yokohama Open in Yokohama, Japan.

Hawkes, 22, from Auckland, battled for 49 minutes to overcome Wee, the world No24 from Malaysia, 9-6 5-9 9-5 10-8 to earn a surprise place in the last four of this new WISPA World Tour event in Japan.

"I tried to take everything early and, except for the backhand corner where I was awful, everything seemed to work okay," said the delighted New Zealander afterwards.

Hawkes will now face favourite Vicky Botwright for a place in the final. The world No7 from Manchester in England reproduced an identical score to her first round tally when she crushed Canada's Alana Miller 9-0 9-0 9-3 in 23 minutes.

As Botwright observed afterwards: "The court seemed to suit me better and I have certainly seen Alana play better."

The other semi-final will feature the second and third seeds Madeline Perry and Rebecca Chiu, respectively. Irish champion Perry ended the brave run of local star Chinatsu Matsui, beating the Japanese qualifier who ousted the seventh seed in the first round, 9-3 9-0 9-3 in 25 minutes.

Chiu, the Asian Games champion from Hong Kong, had to recover from a game down to beat Australia's Melissa Martin 4-9 9-3 9-1 9-3.

Quarter-finals:
[1] Vicky Botwright (ENG) bt [8] Alana Miller (CAN) 9-0, 9-0, 9-3 (23m)
Jaclyn Hawkes (NZL) bt [4] Sharon Wee (MAS) 9-6, 5-9, 9-5, 10-8 (49m)
[3] Rebecca Chiu (HKG) bt [5] Melissa Martin (AUS) 4-9, 9-3, 9-1, 9-3 (35m)
[2] Madeline Perry (IRL) bt [Q] Chinatsu Matsui (JPN) 9-3, 9-0, 9-3 (25m)