Top seed Simona Halep and wildcard Eugenie Bouchard both needed three sets to progress into the Prague Open quarterfinals on Thursday.
After losing the first set to former doubles No.1 Barbora Krejcikova as a result of not being able to fight off any of the three break points she faced, the top-seeded Halep managed to force the decider by edging the second set on her sixth set point. Down 2-0 in the third set, Halep won six games in a row, converting her first match point when her 118th-ranked Czech opponent double-faulted. En route to a 3-6 7-5 6-2 victory, Halep made 10 double faults.
The Romanian’s quarterfinal opponent will be Polish lucky loser Magdalena Frech, who beat Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands 6-3 2-6 6-4 to reach her maiden career quarterfinal.
Having wasted a 4-1 lead in the second set, Canadian Eugenie Bouchard needed two hours and 52 minutes to get past Tamara Zidansek 7-6(2) 6-7 (2) 6-2 and set up a quarterfinal meeting with third seed Elise Mertens.
Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain cruised past Laura Siegemund 6-2 6-3 and awaits the winner of the only unfinished second-round match, the one between Irina-Camelia Begu and Leonie Kung.
Our Jimmie48 was as hard-working as ever, bringing us photos from all Thursday’s singles matches in Prague:
MORE PHOTOS FROM THE 2020 PRAGUE OPEN:
- Wednesday: Kristyna Pliskova upsets Martic, Mertens advances to quarterfinals
- Tuesday: Halep progresses, a number of seeds fall in the first round
- Monday: Genie Bouchard shines on a washed-out opening day
- Sunday: Halep, Mertens, Bouchard practice on Sunday
It’s a bit late to be commenting on the current crop of dresses, I know, but I just want to vent my frustration at the dress worn by Katie Boulter, Genie Bouchard and Cici Bellis (and others, I presume). It is one of the loveliest tennis dresses I’ve ever seen: gorgeous colours, with those diagonal stripes, and it fits beautifully. But I find the back really annoying: the huge empty space would be fine in an evening dress, but sportswomen need some support there and, inevitably, whatever they wear is going to compromise the opening in the back. Katie Boulter found a bra that almost — but not quite — corresponded with the opening; Genie Bouchard had just a plain bra with a visible strap; and Cici Bellis had a white top that simply covered the whole opening. Bellis’ solution was probably the best, but I simply can’t understand why tennis players have to be faced with such a quandary in the first place. It’s still a beautiful dress, though, especially when compared with the awful outfit worn by Simona Halep, among others: the silly frilly skirt paired with a t-shirt ruined by an ugly cartoonish splodge. There, rant over!
Sebastian Garrett, I completely understand what you’re saying, but I don’t think it’s such a big deal. Petra Kvitova wore a nice matching bra at the Bett1 Aces exhibition in Berlin and Simona Halep did the same today in Prague (you will see in today’s photo gallery when I publish it). As for the silly frilly skirt, I love it. The top itself is not bad, but I wouldn’t pair it with the purple striped skirt.
Thanks for responding, Marija. Yes, I probably went a bit over the top with my criticism. And the frilly skirt is not too bad, but I still think the top is abysmal: a vulgar picture in awful colours and a complete mismatch with the skirt.
Sebastian Garrett, I don’t think the top is ugly, it looks good, but I would definitely pair the striped skirt with a solid tank top in purple, black, white, or laser crimson, i.e. with any of the colors present in the skirt. The graphic top I would pair with nice textured black shorts, for example.