TAIPEI CITY, Chinese Taipei – Former Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki continued her return to form by progressing to the quarterfinals of the Taipei OEC Open with a 6-4, 6-3 success over Elena Rybakina.

The WTA World No.229 defeated No.8 seed Misaki Doi on Wednesday, and though she was not able to replicate the brilliant serving she showed in that encounter, took 83 minutes to dispatch her Uzbek opponent, who is ranked 38 places higher than her in the WTA Ranking.

Indeed, the German’s strength was primarily on return, winning an impressive 49% of points on her opponent’s delivery to allow her to break on five occasions throughout the match.

The 29-year-old will face fellow wildcard Liang En-Shou in the last eight, with the home player getting the better of Valentini Grammatikopoulou, 6-3, 6-1.

Elsewhere, it proved a successful day for the seeds. 

Luksika Kumkhum, the No.2 seed for the event, had too much for lucky loser Lizette Cabrera, coming through 6-3, 6-4, with No.5 seed Nao Hibino up next after she defeated qualifier Jang Su Jeong, 6-4, 6-3.

Zhu Lin, the No.4 seed, had a more complicated passage as she required three sets before beating Danka Kovinic, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.

Qualifier Zhang Yuxuan stretched sixth-seeded Vitalia Diatchenko but the Russian won through, 5-7, 6-3, 6-2.

Meanwhile, qualifier Tereza Martincova is still standing after beating Ivana Jorovic, 6-1, 7-6(5), and will face Bibiane Schoofs in the quarterfinals after the Dutchwoman beat Xun Fang Ying, 6-4, 6-2.