Alexandrova Beats Gracheva To Reach Linz Quarterfinals
LINZ, Austria: Ekaterina Alexandrova advanced to her first quarterfinal in nine months by beating fellow Russian Varvara Gracheva 7-5, 6-1 Wednesday at the Upper Austria Ladies Linz.
The 33rd-ranked Alexandrova had not been beyond the last 16 of a WTA event since winning the Shenzhen Open in January and reaching the semifinals in St. Petersburg the following month.
Alexandrova dropped serve twice in an up-and-down opening set before dominating the second. Her opponent in the quarterfinals will be sixth-seeded Nadia Podoroska or 2018 champion Camila Giorgi.
Podoroska defeated Irina-Camelia Begu 6-4, 6-4 in her first match since reaching the French Open semifinals last month.
Aliaksandra Sasnovich rallied to beat Jana Fett 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 and advance to her third quarterfinal of the season.
Sasnovich next plays Barbora Krejcikova, who outlasted Greet Minnen 5-7, 7-6 (7), 6-4 in almost three hours.
In first-round play, the second-seeded Elise Mertens overcame a first-set slump against Anhelina Kalinina before beating the Ukrainian qualifier 2-6, 6-1, 6-2.
The 21st-ranked U.S Open quarterfinalist took the last five games to close out the win and set up a second-round match against Vera Zvonareva.
Also, French qualifier Oceane Dodin upset Top Seed Open finalist Jil Teichmann 1-6, 6-4, 6-2, and the fifth-seeded Veronika Kudermetova downed Austrian wild-card entry Barbara Haas 6-0, 6-0.
The tournament is the final WTA event of 2020 and takes place without spectators amid tightened coronavirus measures in Austria.
___
More AP tennis: https://www.apnews.com/apf-Tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Stay connected with us on social media platform for instant update click here to join our ????️????️ Twitter, & Facebook
We are now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@TechiUpdate) and stay updated with the latest Sports headlines.
For all the latest Sports News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
Also, if you like our efforts, consider sharing this story with your friends, this will encourage us to bring more exciting updates for you.
