There have been some notable upsets in second round singles action at the New Zealand Tennis Championships in Auckland.
Men's fifth seed and New Zealand's top ranked junior Ajeet Rai suffered a surprise 6-3, 6-3 loss to wildcard Anton Bettink who will take on fourth seed James Meredith in Thursday's quarter finals.
Unseeded Rob Reynolds toppled eighth seed Oliver Statham 6-4, 6-4 and will face top seed Finn Tearney. The Wellingtonian has an ATP ranking of 561 after his season was hampered by injury. But he impressed in his first match of the tournament, crushing Paddy Ou 6-0, 6-0.
Defending champion Artem Sitak was pushed hard by Wellington teenager Isaac Beecroft before winning 6-4, 6-4. Sitak will face another teenager, talented sixth seed Macsen Sisam in the quarter finals. 3rd seed Olly Sadler will meet seventh seed Finn Reynolds in the other men's quarter final.
Women's second seed Claudia Williams has been the highest ranked player to fall, losing 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 to Louise Waite. However Williams almost never made it on court after suffering whiplash in a car accident last week. But she was determined to play and started well before struggling with the effects of the whiplash as the match went on.
Former WTA ranked player Sascha Jones, seeded third, overcame Sarah Weekley 6-0, 5-7, 6-2 while sixth seed Nina Paripovich battled past Ivy McLean 2-6, 6-3, 7-5.
Top seed Joanna Carswell proved too strong for Kaitlyn Wilkinson, winning 6-2 6-0.
The women's quarter finals pit Carswell against eighth seed Elys Ventura, Jones taking on fifth seed Oleksandra Kalachova, Paripovich up against fourth seed Katherine Westbury and Waite meeting seventh seed Emilia Price.
Thursday's quarter finals are being played at the Albany Tennis centre before the semi-finals and finals on Friday and Saturday move to the ASB Tennis Arena. The singles champions will receive wildcards into ASB Classic qualifying.
Draws