It took all the way to the quarter-finals for the first upset to happen at the 2015 Toray Pan Pacific Open as Thursday’s final match of the night finally saw one of the top seeds suffer defeat in Tokyo as Dominika Cibulkova sent 2014 Tokyo champion Ana Ivanovic off to Wuhan.
Despite having fought a stomach virus less than 24 hours ago, Cibulkova edged out Ivanovic in a tight first set tie break and never looked back as the match drew to a close in straight sets, earning the Slovakian the first semif-final of the season and the first major success since her surgery earlier this year.