MATCH POINTS
No.6 seed Garbiñe Muguruza is bidding to win consecutive matches for the first time since reaching the third round of Roland Garros last year. The Spaniard has positive memories of facing Shelby Rogers: the only other time the pair played, Muguruza won 7-5, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of Roland Garros 2016 - en route to capturing her first Grand Slam trophy. Former World No.48 Rogers, whose comeback from a knee injury has seen her rise from being unranked last April to her current World No.174, is aiming to reach her first WTA quarterfinal since Strasbourg 2017.
No.4 seed Wang Qiang and the unseeded Peng Shuai are the last two home players remaining in the singles draw. Both are looking to make the last eight of Shenzhen for the third time each: Peng was a semifinalist in 2013 and runner-up in 2014, while Wang reached back-to-back quarterfinals in 2016-17. Peng is also the only former finalist remaining in the draw following the second-round loss of defending champion Aryna Sabalenka.
No.5 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova is bidding to extend her six-match winning streak against Peng Shuai. The Russian won the Limoges 125K title for the third time in December, defeating Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the final - and there could be a quarterfinal rematch this week, if Alexandrova defeats Peng and Sasnovich upsets Wang.
Zarina Diyas, who won the Hong Kong ITF W25 last week to open her season, is also on a six-match winning streak, and leads her head-to-head against Anna Blinkova 2-1. However, Blinkova - fresh off her maiden Top 10 scalp after upsetting No.1 seed Belinda Bencic in the first round - was the victor in their most recent encounter, and only previous meeting on outdoor hard courts, winning 6-2, 7-5 in Beijing qualifying last year.
ORDER OF PLAY (all courts start 11am)
CENTRE COURT
Shelby ROGERS (USA) vs [6] Garbiñe MUGURUZA (ESP)
PENG Shuai (CHN) vs [5] Ekaterina ALEXANDROVA (RUS)
Not before 2pm
[4] WANG Qiang (CHN) vs Aliaksandra SASNOVICH (BLR)
[1] Elise MERTENS (BEL) / Aryna SABALENKA (BLR) vs Misaki DOI (JPN) / Monica NICULESCU (ROU)
COURT 1
Anna BLINKOVA (RUS) vs Zarina DIYAS (KAZ)
Sharon FICHMAN (CAN) / Miyu KATO (JPN) vs [WC] JIANG Xinyu (CHN) / TANG Qianhui (CHN)
[3] DUAN Yingying (CHN) / ZHENG Saisai (CHN) vs Dalila JAKUPOVIC (SLO) / Raluca OLARU (ROU)
