Malaysia Open: Svitolina overcomes Ozaki to enter last eight

Elina Svitolina needed three sets to get past Risa Ozaki and reach the quarter-finals of the Malaysian Open on Thursday.

Ukrainian Svitolina, seeded second for the WTA International event in Kuala Lumpur, survived an error-strewn second set, in which the world number 19 was broken three times, to see off the Japanese qualifier 6-1 3-6 6-0, setting up a clash with Kristina Kucova for a place in the semis. 

In other matches at the indoor hard court event, Lin Zhu defeated Zarina Diyas 7-5 6-2, while her fellow Chinese qualifier Yang Zhaoxuan was beaten 6-4 6-3 by Naomi Broady, who will face third seed Sabine Lisicki in the last eight.

Turkey's Cagla Buyukakcay overcame Chang Kai-Chen of Taiwan 7-5 6-3 to book a quarter-final against sixth seed Eugenie Bouchard.