Vekic , Kozlova, Friedsam topple seeds to enter Quarterfinals at Tashkent Open

30 September 2015

Beck , Larsson only remaining seeds to make last eight

Tashkent , September 27 : Unseeded players Donna Vekic of Croatia , Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany and Qualifier Kateryna Kozlova of Ukraine toppled seeds on the way to the quarterfinals , while top seed Annika Beck of Germany and fourth seeded Johanna Larsson of Sweden remained the only seeds to make the last eight stage at the 17th edition of the Tashkent Open being played at the Olympic Tennis School complex here.

Croatian Donna Vekic a finalist here in 2012 upset second seeded Carina Witthoeft of Germany 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 in 1hr 40 minutes , qualifier Kateryna Kozlova of Ukraine toppled fifth seeded Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Reublic 7-6(4),6-3 in a 1hr49 min tussle , while German Anna-Lena Friedsam accounted for sixth seeded Margarita Gasparyan of Russia 6-3,6-4 in 1hr 35 minutes battle.

Top seeded German Annika Beck took 1 hr16 mins to quell the challenge of Slovakian Jana Cepelova 6-4,6-4 , Fourth seeded Swede Johanna Larsson ended the run of local wildcard Nigina Abduraimova 6/2,6/2 in just 1 hr 18 minutes to remain the only unbeaten seeds in the draw.

Nao Hibino of Japan made it to her first quarterfinal as Runner up at Seoul Aliaksandra Sasnovic of Belarus did not take onto the court citing a aggravated leg injury , In an all Serbian match Bojana Jovanovski put out Aleksandra Krunic 6/4, 6/3 in match lasting just over an hour , while Russian Evegeniya Rodina got the better of Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova 6/4 ,7/6(4) in 1hr 45 minutes to be the other players to make the last eight stage.

In the best match of the day 2012 Tashkent Open finalist Croat Donna Vekic played a patient game to overcome second seeded German Carina Witthoeft 4/6, 6/2, 6/2 in 1 hr and 40 minutes and record the biggest upset of the event so far. Vekic played patiently and played percentage tennis to force Witthoeft into errors many times in the match.

I'm very happy that I won and am on course in Tashkent , I managed to find my way after I lost the first set. I was confident and played solidly to set up a win I always play well here in Tashkent I like the courts and the bounce and am comfortable , surely my past experience here helped me today", said the 19 year old Vekic who has lost to Witthoeft in England in their last meeting

Vekic will take on another unseeded player Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany in the last eight , the 109 ranked German Friedsam created the second upset of the day outplaying sixth seeded Russian Margarita Gasparyan 6-3,6-4 in 1 hr 34 minutes . The German served four aces and broke the Russian twice in the first set and once in the second set .

" I played to a plan , Played aggressive and dominated the match from the beginning to the end I served well and made my opponent move ", said Friedsam

Another German Top seeded Annika Beck also broke once in each set to secure a 6-4,6-4 win over Slovakian Jana Cepelova in a hard hitting match . the German winner of the WTA event at Quebec also leveled their Head to Head encounters 3-3 winning here today.

In the last eight encounter top seed Beck will take on 2013 winner here Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia . In a battle of Serbians 106 ranked Jovanovski took 1hr 08mins to score a 6/4, 6/3 win over 98 ranked Aleksandra Krunic . Jovanovski led 4-1 in the second set before Krunic took two games to reduce the margin, but Jovanovski held on to make it to her third straight quarterfinal here

Jovanovski said " Aleksandra is my friend and its difficult to play her , but I was focused ,played aggressively , served well . I always play well here I feel like home . I was. Leading 4 -1 but couldn't finish . But it's good that I got to spend some more time on the courts ", .

Qualifier Kateryna Kozlova of Ukraine once a top 100 player and making a comeback after being out of the game for six months upset fifth seeded Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic 7-6(4),6-3 in a 1 hour 49 minute tight match. " I Played quite good kept up the pressure and put many balls back forcing my opponent to make mistakes " said Kozlova .

Kozlova will take on Japanese Nao Hibino who made it to her first quarterfinal of a Tour event . the Japanese won without hitting a ball as her opponent Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus who upset third seed Polona Hercog yesterday pulled out citing aggravated leg injury .

In a matchup of experienced players 93 ranked Russian Evegeniya Rodina stopped Kazakhstan's 89 rankedYaroslava Shvedova 6/4 ,7/6(4) in a 1 hour 45 minute. Shvedova who was in top form yesterday served 6 double faults in her match .

" We have playing each other since our junior days , and we know each other's game The game was quite close , I tried to keep myself focused as it would difficult for me to play the third set so wanted to finish the match in two sets " admitted Rodina

Rodina will take on fourth seeded and 61 ranked Swede Johanna Larsson who ended the run of local Wildcard and 127 ranked Nigina Abduraimova 6/2,6/2 in 1hr and 18 minutes . " I played solidly and saw that I did not give a chance to my opponent " , said Larsson

Singles ( Second Round)

[1] Annika Beck(GER) bt Jana Cepelova(SVK) 6-4,6-4

Bojana Jovanovski (SRB) b Aleksandra Krunic (SRB) 6/4, 6/3

Nao Hibino (JPN) w/o Aliaksandra Sasnovich (BLR)

[Q] Kateryna Kozlova (UKR) b [5] Katerina Siniakova (CZE) 7/6(4),6/3
Evegeniya Rodina (RUS) b Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) 6/4 ,7/6(4)
[4] Johanna Larsson (SWE) bt [WC] Nigina Abduraimova (UZB) 6/2,6/2

Anna-Lena Friedsam (GER) bt (6) Margarita Gasparyan 6-3,6-4

Donna Vekic (CRO) vs [2] Carina Witthoeft (GER) 4/6, 6/2, 6/2

Doubles First Round

[WC] Ekaterina Bychkova (RUS) / Stefanie Voegele (SUI) [3] b Jocelyn Rae (GBR) / Anna Smith (GBR) 7-6(3) , 2/6 , 10/7

Anna-Lena Friedsam (GER) / Katarzyna Piter bt Aleksandra Krunic (SRB) / Petra Martic (CRO) 6-4,4-6,11-9

[WC] Nigina Abduraimova (UZB) / Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB) bt Alona Fomina / /Kateryna Kozlova (Ukr) 6-4,6-2