Zhang and Wang among Japan Women's Open semifinalists

There will be no successful title defence of the Japan Women's Open for Zarina Diyas, who went down in straight sets to Zhang Shuai.

Zhang Shuai in action

Zhang Shuai booked her place in the last four of the Japan Women's Open on Friday with a 6-4 7-5 victory over defending champion Zarina Diyas.

Diyas was crowned champion in Tokyo last year with a win over home hope Miyu Kato, but there will no repeat for the Kazakh in Hiroshima.

Top seed Zhang broke her opponent twice in each set en route to a semifinal meeting with the unseeded Amanda Anisimova, who overcame Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-3 6-1.

And there could be an all-Chinese final at this hard-court event, after Wang Qiang progressed to the last four thanks to a routine 6-2 6-2 defeat of Magda Linette, the runner-up in 2015.

Wang will have to wait to discover the identity of her semifinal opponent, however, after Ajla Tomljanovic and Hsieh Su-wei's match was interrupted by rain in the first game and put back to Saturday.