The four Russians in action Wednesday all earned victories at the St. Petersburg (Russia) Ladies Trophy.
Top-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova, fourth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva all advanced to the quarterfinals while Anastasia Gasanova moved on to the second round.
Zvonareva earned the day’s most dramatic win, beating third-seeded Fiona Ferro of France 6-7 (6), 7-5, 7-6 (2). Zvonareva couldn’t take advantage of a set point in the first tiebreaker, but she pulled away in the decisive tiebreaker.
Kuznetsova defeated China’s Xinyu Wang 6-1, 7-5. Alexandrova topped the Czech Republic’s Tereza Martincova 6-3, 6-4, and Gasanova edged Ukraine’s Katarina Zavatska 6-2, 6-7 (6), 7-5.
In the day’s other second-round match, Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian eliminated sixth-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 7-6 (9) when Ostapenko squandered a set point in the tiebreaker.
Abierto GNP Seguros
Canada’s Leylah Fernandez needed just over an hour to advance to the quarterfinals in Monterrey, Mexico, defeating Slovakia’s Kristina Kucova 6-1, 6-4.
Fernandez next will face another Slovakian, Viktoria Kuzmova, who beat Great Britain’s Harriet Dart 6-4, 6-3.
Yet another Slovakian, Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, earned a 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Italy’s Jasmine Paolini. Schmiedlova moves on to a matchup against seventh-seeded Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain, who got a walkover win against Slovenia’s Kaja Juvan.
–Field Level Media
