WTA roundup: Muguruza rolls into Hong Kong quarterfinals

[October 11, 2018]  Fourth-seeded Garbine Muguruza of Spain cruised into the quarterfinals of the Hong Kong Open with a 6-2, 6-1 victory Wednesday against Romania's Ana Bogdan.

The two-time major champion will face Luksika Kumkhum of Thailand, who knocked off No. 8 Alize Cornet of France 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (5).

"I'm happy with the way I played in important moments," Muguruza said. "She hits the ball very hard and is very fast, but I'm happy that I managed that and beat that."

Unseeded Ukrainian 18-year-old Dayana Yastremska also reached the quarters with a 6-3, 6-3 victory against China's Saisai Zheng.

Kristina Kucova of Slovakia followed up Monday's first-round upset of No. 3 seed Jelena Ostapenko with a 6-1, 6-0 win against Viktoriya Tomova of Bulgaria. Kucova saved all eight break points she faced during the 52-minute match.

Upper Austria Ladies Linz

Andrea Petkovic saved a match point and rallied to upset No. 1 seed and fellow German Julia Goerges 1-6, 7-5, 6-4 in the first round Wednesday at the Upper Austria Ladies Linz.

Goerges only dropped one point on her serve during a 21-minute opening set and led 4-1 in the second before her Fed Cup teammate began mounting a comeback.

Petkovic, a wild-card entry ranked No. 82 in the world, survived a match point while trailing 5-4 in the second and broke Goerges to force the decider.

The third set featured 11 break opportunities, with Petkovic ultimately gaining momentum and winning the last three games to advance. She will face another German, Tatjana Maria, in the second round.

There was one other upset Wednesday, with No. 9 Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic falling to Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia in straight sets 7-5, 6-0.

Seeded players advancing included Dutch No. 2 Kiki Bertens, Belgian No. 3 Kirsten Flipkens, Italian No. 5 Camila Giorgi and Russian No. 6 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
 

Tianjin Open

Top-seeded Karolina Pliskova breezed into the quarterfinals at the Tianjin Open in China with a 6-1, 6-2 victory Wednesday against Slovenia's Polona Hercog.

"I think I was quite good today," the Czech former world No. 1 said following her 50-minute win. "I was feeling good. I was serving pretty well. I didn't lose my serve, which I think was important."

Other seeded players advancing to the quarterfinals were No. 4 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, No. 5 Su-Wei Hsieh of Chinese Taipei and No. 6 Petra Martic of Croatia.

Martic overcame a slow start to eventually zip past China's Fangzhou Liu 1-6, 6-0, 6-1.

--Field Level Media

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