Andrew Lapthorne and John Parfitt both secured straight sets victories on Wednesday at the Japan Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships in Iizuka to reach Friday's quad singles quarter-finals.
Both Britons had first round byes and world No 6 Lapthorne faced a determined challenge from Japan's Mitsuteru Moroishi in his first competitive match since the Pensacola Open at the end of March. However, second seed Lapthorne won the important points to seal a 6-4, 6-4 victory and will now go on to face Malaysian eighth seed Azman Hasan in the last eight.
Sixth seed Parfitt has yet to discover his quarter-final opponent after easing past another Japanese opponent, Mika Ishikawa, 6-0, 6-0. Parfitt will face either Swedish third seed Anders Hard or Japan's Shinichi Hirata in the quarter-finals, with Hard and Hirata due to play their second round match early on Thursday morning.
While they aren't scheduled to be in singles action on Thursday, Lapthorne and Parfitt will pair up to begin their quad doubles campaign. The British second seeds will take on Japanese duo Sadahiro Kimura and Takahiro Koga.
The Japan Open is the second tournament on the 2011 NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour to have Super Series status, which makes it one of the five most important wheelchair tennis events outside of the Grand Slams.
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