FORMER Hong Kong number one Patricia Hy powered her way into the quarter-finals of the US$100,000 women's Digital Open with a straight sets win at Victoria Park last night.
Top-seed Hy, representing Canada where she has been living for the past four years, breezed past American Beverly Bowes 6-2, 6-4 in just under one-and-a-half hours.
Although her first serves were not so accurate on the night, Hy kept Bowes under constant pressure with steady ground strokes and attacking the net when the opportunity arose.
They traded service breaks in the third and fourth games but Hy, ranked 57th on the Women's Tennis Association rankings and 74 places above Bowes, reeled off the next four game for the opening set.
A solitary break in the fifth game proved decisive in the second set as Hy held on to win it 6-4.
''The first match in any tournament is always tough in terms of nerves and it is always a relief to get past it,'' said Cambodian-born Hy.