MATCH POINTS

No.7 seed Magda Linette takes on No.4 seed Timea Babos for the second time this year in the quarterfinals today. Babos won their second-round encounter in Shenzhen 6-2, 6-1.

Monica Niculescu's rivalry with Sabine Lisicki dates back 12 years, and the Romanian leads the head-to-head 4-3. Niculescu won their first meeting, in the qualifying of Istanbul in 2006, 6-3, 6-2, and their most recent, the first round of Doha in 2016, 6-2, 6-2. In between, Lisicki triumphed at Madrid in 2007, Hong Kong in 2014 and Dubai in 2015; while Niculescu was the victor in Cincinnati in 2010 and at the Australian Open in 2014.

Wang Yafan, who spent five months on the sidelines with illness in 2017, is playing the third WTA quarterfinal of her career today following Guangzhou in 2014 and Nanchang last year. On both previous occasions, the Chinese No.8 progressed to the semifinals.

Wildcard Eugenie Bouchard's second-round win over Ana Bogdan marked the first time since Madrid last May that the Canadian has won back-to-back matches at any level. Meanwhile, No.5 seed Yulia Putintseva's run this week marks just the second time the Kazakh has won back-to-back matches since Roland Garros.

ORDER OF PLAY

STADIUM (starts 1pm)

[5] Yulia PUTINTSEVA (KAZ) vs Kateryna KOZLOVA (UKR) 
Monica NICULESCU (ROU) vs Sabine LISICKI (GER) 
[WC] Eugenie BOUCHARD (CAN) vs WANG Yafan (CHN)
[4] Timea BABOS (HUN) vs [7] Magda LINETTE (POL)

COURT 1 (Not Before 4pm)

CHANG Kai-Chen (TPE) / CHUANG Chia-Jung (TPE) vs [3] Lyudmyla KICHENOK (UKR) / Nadiia KICHENOK (UKR)