After a first-round bye, seed No. 4 Ana Ivanovic beat Klara Zakopalova in the second round of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow and advanced into the quarterfinals, where she will meet Samantha Stosur for the sixth time in her career, having lost in three sets to the Australian in their last meeting which happened last year at the same tournament.
Ivanovic blitzed through the first five games of the match against Zakopalova, losing just six points, when the Czech’s resistance entered the match and scored three of the next five games. However, the Serb went on another run of five straight games and closed the match 6-3 6-1. Stosur came through with a 6-4 6-1 victory over Alize Cornet.
In the last two matches of the second round, Daniela Hantuchova beat Vesna Dolonc 3-6 6-4 6-4 and for the fourth time in her career she will face Simona Halep, seeded fifth, who passed into the quarterfinals after her opponent Magdalena Rybarikova retired in the second set due to respiratory problems.
Meanwhile at BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open, the quarterfinal pairs were also set. Seed No.2 Sloane Stephens beat Yvonne Meusburger 7-5 6-4 and will next face Stefanie Voegele, who defeated Karolina Pliskova 6-1 3-6 6-3. The two of them met in the quarterfinal at the Generali Ladies Linz last week when the Swiss stunned the American in three sets 6-7(7) 6-4 7-5. Then we have the quarterfinal pair which features third seed Sabine Lisicki, who blitzed Tereza Smitkova 6-4 6-0, and Karin Knapp, who eliminated Andrea Petkovic 7-5 7-5. The last to make the quarterfinals was top seed Caroline Wozniacki, with a 6-3 6-2 victory over Monica Niculescu, and she will meet yesterday’s winner, eighth seed Bojana Jovanovski. The quarterfinal between Annika Beck and Katarzyna Piter was determined yesterday. (photo: Jimmie48)
This is a good result for Ana, a QF this week, and a final last week. 2 good results to end her season, We shall see what next year holds for her. I would like to see Ana have some consistent results.