Tashkent , September 27 : Defending Champion and Top seed Kristyna Pliskova crashed out along with four other seeds in the second round of the 19th edition of Tashkent Open WTA Championships being played at the Olympic tennis School in Tashkent
It was a bad day for the seeds as third seeded Tatjana Maria of Germany , fifth seeded
Marketa Vondrousova of Czech Republic , seventh seed Nao Hibino of Japan and eighth seeded and Ekaterina Alexandrova of Japan made an exit from the singles event .
Second seeded Timea Babos of Hungary and sixth seeded Alexandra Krunic were the only remaining seeds in the singles draw.
Unheralded 109 ranked Kurumi Nara of Japan shocked the world ranked 41 Pliskova 7-6(5),6-1 in 1 hour and 24 to record the biggest upset of the event , Pliskova's second round loss also meant that the “Tashkent Open Jinx" - : where no player in event’s 19-year run has won the title two times continues.
In the match which saw the biggest upset of the day Nara led 4-2 in the first set before Pliskova found her rhythm and crawled back to level scores and force a tiebreak , the second set was a cakewalk as Pliskova looked jaded and tired from a tough first round yesterday against Hsu Weih.
An elated Nara said: " I had to Lost to her last year at Tashkent and went into the match with a plan , I knew her game, and returned well in the match ,She played better midway in the match but I did well to hold her . I'm very happy with my win, also its my first quarterfinal of the year."
Unseeded and 119 ranked Belorussian Aryna Sabalenka upset 53 ranked and third seeded Tatjana Maria of Germany 6-3,7-5 in a 1 hour 35 minute match.
In the best match of the day lasting 2 hours and 43 minutes 196 ranked Stefanie Voegele coming back from a six month injury lay off ousted fifth seed fast rising Czech player Marketa Vondrousova 7/6(8) 4/6 7/5 .
Speaking at the post match conference Swiss Miss Stephanie Voegele who missed out the first sixth months of the Tour due to wrist injury said "I expected a tough match; it was a close match with long rallies. Both of us played Very good points, it was a roller coaster match and being focused was important, I managed to keep my cool in pressure situations and got the desired result ".
Veteran Tour Pro Kateryna Bondarenko made full use of her experience knocking out last year’s finalist and seventh seeded Nao Hibino of Japan 6/4 7/5 in 1 hour 30 minutes Kateryna held on to her nerves at the end of the second set even after missing out on 2 match points to upset Hibino.
"I was happy to finish the match in two sets as I was getting tired I started making more errors and Nao started playing aggressively. I was serving 5-4 40-15 I got a little tired and lost the game and felt my momentum slipping , but I told myself that I had to win in two sets , the third set would have been a difficult situation , I stated playing better and stayed calm and finished the match” said the tour veteran.
Last year's semifinalist Kateryna Kozlova of Ukraine outplayed eighth seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia 6/2 6/3 to move into the last eight. Koslova who is playing her third quarter finals of the year after Bastaad and Guangzhou. "I Started well in the match and that put pressure on my opponent , I didn't overdo but played a balanced game , Alexandrova increased the speed in the second set but I knew i would get my chances, I returned really well today", said Kozlova after her win.
Second seeded Timea Babos of Hungary took just over an Hour to register a 6/3 6/3 win over Czech player Denisa Allertova , sixth seeded Serbian Aleksandra Krunic lost her script midway but recovered to stave off a challenge from Slovakian Jana Cepelova winning 6/2 1/6 6/3. Former world No.2 and qualifier Vera Zvonareva kept on course outclassing former winner here Pauline Parmentier of France 6/2 6/0
The quarterfinal line up for the singles
Kurumi Nara (JPN) v/s Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) , [Q] Vera Zvonareva (RUS) v/s
[6] Aleksandra Krunic (SRB) , Kateryna Kozlova (UKR) v/s Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) ,
Stefanie Voegele (SUI) vs [2] Timea Babos (HUN)
Following are the results ( Singles Second Round)
Kurumi Nara (JPN) bt [1] Kristyna Pliskova (CZE) 7/6(5) 6/1
Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) bt [7] Nao Hibino (JPN) 6/4 7/5
[Q] Vera Zvonareva (RUS) bt Pauline Parmentier (FRA) 6/2 6/0
[6] Aleksandra Krunic (SRB) bt Jana Cepelova (SVK) 6/2 1/6 6/3
Kateryna Kozlova (UKR) bt [8] Ekaterina Alexandrova (RUS) 6/2 6/3
Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) bt Tatjana Maria (GER)(3) bt 6-3,7-5
Stefanie Voegele (SUI) vs [5] Marketa Vondrousova (CZE) 7/6(8) 4/6 7/5
[2] Timea Babos (HUN) vs Denisa Allertova (CZE) 6/3 6/3
Doubles First Round
[1] Timea Babos (HUN) / Andrea Hlavackova (CZE) vs Monique Adamczak (AUS) / Lizette Cabrera (AUS) 6/4 2/6 10/6
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