Osaka: Samantha Stosur beat Belinda Bencic 6-4, 6-2 at the Japan Open on Wednesday and became the highest remaining seed after Wimbledon runner-up Sabine Lisicki withdrew hurt.
No. 2-seeded Lisicki hurt her left hip, and pulled out from her scheduled second-round match with Polana Hercog, who advanced to a quarterfinal with local wild card Kurumi Nara.
Stosur, the No. 3 seed, reached her first quarter-finals since her title run in Carlsbad in August. She lost her serve twice but broke Bencic five times at Utsobu Park and will next face either Kimiko Date-Krumm or Misaki Doi in the last eight.
Stosur won in Osaka in 2009 and was runner-up in 2011 and a semifinalist in 2012.
In other second-round matches, Nara beat eighth-seeded Monica Puig 7-5, 7-6 (4), and fifth-seeded Eugenie Bouchard overpowered Luksika Kumkhum 6-2, 6-2. Qualifier Barbora Zahlavova Strycova defeated Vania King for the second time this year, 2-6, 6-3, 6-1, and will meet Bouchard next.
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