Linz Open: Donna Vekic, Petra Martic lead seeds into last-8; Anhelina Kalinina exits

Fifth seed Donna Vekic advanced to the quarter-finals of the Linz Open on Thursday. The Croatian beat Madison Brengle 6-3, 6-1 in an hour and 16 minutes in their round-of-16 match.

Brengle had a high first-serve percentage at 75% as compared to Vekic’s 55%. But while Vekic won 60% of her first-serve points, the American won only 49% off her first-serves. Vekic also won 83% points on return on Brengle’s second serve while winning 50% of her second-serve points. The 26-year-old converted six of nine break points on her opponent’s serve while saving four of the six break points she faced.

In the quarter-finals, Vekic will now play top seed Maria Sakkari.

Linz Open: Anna-Lena Friedsam makes it count

Anna-Lena Friedsam posted the sole upset of the day as she ousted fourth seed Anhelina Kalinina in their round-of-16 match. The German needed an hour and 41 minutes to win 6-3, 7-5 against the Ukrainian.

Friedsam won 57% of her first-serve points to Kalinina’s 51% and 43% of her second-serve points to the latter’s 40%. Kalinina faced 14 break points on her serve and while she was able to save eight, the latter went against her. Friedsam, too, faced nine break points of which she saved five.

In the next round, Friedsam will play eighth seed Anastasia Potapova.

Sixth seed Petra Martic also moved into the quarter-finals on Thursday. The Croatian defeated Alison Van Uytvanck 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-6(3) after two hours and 44 minutes.

Martic won 71% of her first-serve points and 55% of her second-serve points. She also finished the match by winning 60% points on return on the Belgian’s second serve. Martic saved two of the five break points she faced while making good of four of the seven break points that came her way on Van Uytvanck’s serve.

Clara Tauson will be Martic’s next opponent. The Dane got the better of former Linz champion, Camila Giorgi in their second-round meeting. Tauson needed a little over two hours to claim a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 comeback victory.

Lastly, Dalma Galfi also got through to the quarter-finals of the Linz Open with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win over Eva Lys. The Hungarian wrapped up the match in an hour and 54 minutes. Marketa Vondrousova will face her next.