WTA roundup: Top seeds advance in Luxembourg

[September 17, 2021] No. 1 seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland and No. 2 seed Elise Mertens of Belgium took different paths Thursday to reach the quarterfinals of the BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open.

Bencic needed one hour flat to cruise to a 6-1, 6-3 win over Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan, despite Diyas saving 8 of 13 break points.

Meanwhile, Mertens rallied from a set down to get past Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich 3-6, 6-2, 7-5. Mertens hit eight aces but had to overcome 10 double faults.

Defending champion and third-seed Jelena Ostapenko of Lativa also advanced with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 victory over Arianne Hartono of the Netherlands. Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic finished off Greet Minnen of Belgium 6-3, 6-1.

Zavarovalnica Sava Portoroz

No. 4 seed Sorana-Mihaela Cirstea of Romania saved a whopping 14 of the 16 break points she faced in order to topple the Czech Republic's Tereza Martincova 7-5, 6-2 in Portoroz, Slovenia.

Cirstea reached the quarterfinals, where she will meet Italian Jasmine Paolini after Paolini took care of business against Russia's Anna Kalinskaya 6-3, 6-2.

A rain delay interrupted the match between Slovenia's Kaja Juvan and Serbia's Aleksandra Krunic, which is likely set for a Friday finish. Juvan won the first set 7-6 (1) and trailed 0-1 in the second.

--Field Level Media

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