6th-seeded Nara beats Linette in 3 sets at Malaysian Open

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) Sixth-seeded Kurumi Nara reached the quarterfinals of the Malaysian Open by beating Polish qualifier Magda Linette 7-5, 5-7, 7-6 (6) Wednesday.

The Japanese player was up a break at 5-3 in the second set when Linette won four straight games to force a deciding set.

Also, unseeded Elizaveta Kulichkova of Russia, who had knocked out seventh-seeded Bojana Jovanovski in the first round, defeated Kazakh player Yulia Putintseva 6-0, 6-2.

Fourth-seeded Jarmila Gajdosova of Australia and eighth-seeded Julia Goerges of Germany also advanced.