Seed No.3 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia defeated fellow former French Open champion Francesca Shiavone of Italy 6-3 7-5 in one hour and 32 minutes at the Generali Ladies Linz on Wednesday and advanced into the quarterfinals. It was their fifth career meeting and now their head-to-head record is 5-0 for the Serb. Ivanovic won the Linz title in 2010, when she beat Patty Schnyder in the finals 6-1 6-2, and has now made her sixth quarterfinal at her sixth appearance at the tournament.
In the other today’s second-round matches, fourth seed Carla Suarez Navarro beat Elina Svitolina 6-1 6-4 and seed No.5 Kirsten Flipkens eliminated Camila Giorgi 6-2 6-1. Also, in the three remaining first-round matches, top seed Angelique Kerber recovered from losing the first set with a bagel and beat Monica Niculescu 0-6 6-1 6-2, 50th-ranked Karin Knapp stunned eighth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova 6-2 7-6(6), and Alexandra Cadantu beat Melanie Klaffner 7-6(4) 6-2.
Elsewhere, at the HP Open in Osaka, four second-round matches took place on Wednesday. The 2009 champion and seed No.3 Samantha Stosur moved into the quarterfinals by defeating Belinda Bencic 6-4 6-2 in their first career meeting, fifth seed Eugenie Bouchard avenged her 2012 Osaka loss to Luksika Kumkhum, beating her 6-2 6-2, Barbora Zahlavova Strycova took out Vania King 2-6 6-3 6-1 and Kurumi Nara ousted eighth seed Monica Puig 7-5 7-6(4). (photo: JJ Tennis)
