Sloane Stephens advances to Korea Open quarter-final

Seoul: American Sloane Stephens cruised past Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm to advance to the quarter-finals of the WTA Korea Open on Thursday.

Third-seeded Stephens defeated 44-year-old Date-Krumm, champion in Seoul in 2009, 6-3, 6-4 in the second round of the tournament.

The 22-year-old American, ranked 32nd in the world, won her first WTA title at the Citi Open in Washington last month.

Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus, ranked 136th in the world, meanwhile earned a surprise win over Magdalena Rybarikova, currently ranked 73rd, defeating the Slovak 6-3, 6-3.

Russia`s Elizaveta Kulichkova also breezed past the fourth-seeded American Varvara Lepchenko 6-0, 6-2, while Romanian Irina Begu, ranked 29th in the world, defeated Slovenian Polona Hercog after a tough battle, eventually winning 6-2, 6-7 (6/8), 6-2.