MATCH POINTS
No.1 seed Elina Svitolina, who competed in Fed Cup Group I action in Tallinn last week, is bidding for her first title since the 2018 WTA Finals and opens against Bibiane Schoofs for the first time. The 31-year-old Schoofs is seeking her second career Top 30 win, and first since upsetting Angelique Kerber in the first round of Luxembourg 2011 on her WTA main draw debut.
No.8 seed and Hiroshima champion Nao Hibino won her only previous meeting against Peangtarn Plipuech 7-6(1), 6-4 in the second round of the Suzhou ITF W100 event in 2018. Lucky loser Plipuech is the first Thai player to win a match in a home WTA event since Nicha Lertpitaksinchai at Pattaya 2014, and is bidding to become the first home WTA quarterfinalist since Tamarine Tanasugarn at Pattaya 2012 (although Luksika Kumkhum was a quarterfinalist in both editions of the Hua Hin 125K event in 2015 and 2017).
Qualifier Liang En-Shuo is a former junior World No.2 who was the 2018 Australian Open champion in both girls' singles and girls' doubles. Having reached the Nanchang 2018 quarterfinals on her WTA main draw debut, 19-year-old Liang marked her second WTA main draw appearance by defeating the player with whom she won the girls' doubles trophy, Wang Xinyu. The Chinese Taipei player will bid for her second career Top 100 win - having upset Zhu Lin in the second round of the Gifu ITF W80 last year - against No.4 seed Zheng Saisai.
2018 Wimbledon girls' runner-up Leonie Kung is also playing her second WTA main draw, and scored her first win at this level over wildcard Patcharin Cheapchandej in the first round. The 19-year-old, who has cracked the Top 300 this year off the back of a 10-5 record in ITF W25 events in Hong Kong, Malibu, Guadeloupe and Thailand, is seeking her maiden Top 100 win against No.7 seed Zhu Lin.
No.5 seed Magda Linette has won both of her previous encounters with Kateryna Bondarenko in three sets, with both taking place in 2017. The Pole won 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 in Tokyo qualifying that year and 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the first round of Tianjin a month later.
Katarzyna Kawa, who was the Jurmala runner-up last July on her WTA main draw debut, is bidding for her first quarterfinal at this level since then. Today's match against No.3 seed Wang Qiang is also the Pole's first contest against a Top 30 player since losing the Jurmala final to Anastasija Sevastova 3-6, 7-5, 6-4.
GSB CENTRE COURT
[Q] LIANG En-Shuo (TPE) vs [4] ZHENG Saisai (CHN)
Not before 5pm
[1] Elina SVITOLINA (UKR) vs Bibiane SCHOOFS (NED)
[3/WC] WANG Qiang (CHN) vs Katarzyna KAWA (POL)
Junri NAMIGATA (JPN) / Peangtarn PLIPUECH (THA) vs [2] PENG Shuai (CHN) / WANG Yafan (CHN)
COURT 2
Ulrikke EIKERI (NOR) / HSIEH Yu-Chieh (TPE) vs Barbara HAAS (AUT) / Ellen PEREZ (AUS)
[5] Magda LINETTE (POL) vs Kateryna BONDARENKO (UKR)
[Q] Leonie KUNG (SUI) vs [7] ZHU Lin (CHN)
COURT 3
Ankita RAINA (IND) / Rosalie VAN DER HOEK (NED) vs Desirae KRAWCZYK (USA) / YOU Xiaodi (CHN)
[LL] Peangtarn PLIPUECH (THA) vs [8] Nao HIBINO (JPN)
