Google News Ostrava Open: Belinda Bencic, Maria Sakkari, Elena Rybakina reach last eight
by ABBEY JOHNSON | VIEW 4159
Swiss players Belinda Bencic and Jil Teichmann reached the quarter-finals of the Ostrava Open on Thursday. The third-seeded Bencic defeated Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-2, 6-3 in an hour and 28 minutes in their second-round clash.
Bencic won 62% of her first-serve points as compared to Sorribes Tormo winning just 43%. The gold medallist at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics also won 60% of her second-serve points to her opponent’s 35%. Bencic was broken twice in the match but she went on to break Sorribes Tormo six times to put herself comfortably ahead in the clash.
Speaking after her win, Bencic said, “I think I prepared very well for this match tactically, and also mentally because it's very tough. You have to win the point many times against her, especially on this surface where it's very slow.
I'm happy that I stayed disciplined for the whole match”. For a place in the semi-finals, Bencic will play Anett Kontaveit. Kontaveit had ended the run of Sorribes Tormo’s fellow Spaniard, ninth seed Paula Badosa in their round-of-16 clash earlier.
Meanwhile, Teichmann ousted Portoroz Open finalist Alison Riske in their second-round clash. The Swiss won 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 in a minute shy of the two-hour mark. In the quarter-finals, she’ll play second seed Petra Kvitova.
If both Bencic and Teichmann win their respective quarter-finals, there will be a Swiss derby in the semi-finals.
Ostrava Open: Tereza Martincova scores another huge win
In the top-half in the Czech city, home player Tereza Martincova scored the only upset of the day.
Martincova downed fifth-seeded Russian, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-6(5), 7-6(6) in an oscillating clash to reach the quarters of a tournament for the sixth time in 2021. Martincova had two match points on Pavlyuchenkova’s serve in the second set and even served for the match thrice but to no avail before eventually prevailing in the tie-break.
Martincova will take on fourth seed Maria Sakkari next. The Greek defeated Luxembourg Open finalist, Jelena Ostapenko 6-4, 6-2 in an hour and 23 minutes. Sakkari had 19 winners and 10 unforced errors while Ostapenko hit 15 winners and 27 unforced errors across the match.
Seventh seed Elena Rybakina completed the quarter-final line-up at the Ostrava Open. The Kazakh beat Magda Linette 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 in an hour and 37 minutes in their second-round match. Next up for Rybakina is top seed Iga Swiatek.
