The top two seeds at the Istanbul Open had contrasting fortunes on Wednesday. Sorana Cirstea, the second seed who’s also defending her title in the Turkish city, reached the quarter-finals with a win over Arantxa Rus in their second-round meeting.
Cirstea needed two hours and 30 minutes to complete a comeback, 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 win over the Dutch player that also saw her save a couple of match points. She won 62% of her first-serve points and 51% of her second-serve points while Rus won 54% of her first-serve points and 47% of her second-serve points. Cirstea converted six break points on Rus’ serve while conceding her serve four times in the match.
In the quarters, the world no. 24 will play Julia Grabher. The Austrian upset fifth seed Jil Teichmann in their round-of-16 match-up, 6-4, 6-4 in an hour and 31 minutes.
Meanwhile, the top-seeded Elise Mertens – who’d reached the finals of the 2021 edition of the event – was forced to retire in her first-round match against Rebecca Peterson of Sweden on account of an injury to her leg. Peterson was leading the Belgian 7-5, 4-1 when the latter decided to stop the match.
In the second round, Peterson will play Yulia Putintseva. The Kazakh beat Magda Linette 7-6(6), 6-4 in their first-round match. Putintseva needed two hours and seven minutes to complete her win.
Istanbul Open: The last of the first-round matches were played
Anna Bondar also advanced to the quarter-finals with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Nuria Parrizas Diaz. The Hungarian wrapped up the win in an hour and 15 minutes. Bondar now awaits the winner between Ana Bogdan and Veronika Kudermetova.
Among the other second-round results, Lesia Tsurenko defeated Anna-Karolina Schmiedlova, 6-2, 6-0. The Ukrainian will play sixth seed Ajla Tomljanovic. The Australian won against fellow Australian, lucky loser, Jaimee Fourlis, 6-1, 6-3.
Tsurenko’s fellow Ukrainian, the fourth seed Anhelina Kalinina, however, crashed out in the first round. Petra Martic came from a set down to oust Kalinina, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(5) in two hours and 44 minutes. Martic will play Anastasia Potapova. Potapova beat Czech wildcard, Nikola Bartunkova, 6-1, 6-4 in their opener.
Lastly, Varvara Gracheva and Sara Sorribes Tormo set up a second-round clash against each other at the Istanbul Open. Gracheva won against Marie Bouzkova, 6-3, 7-5. The seventh-seeded Sorribes Tormo beat Qiang Wang, 6-3, 6-2 in their first-round match.
Photo Credit: Istanbul Open Twitter