Mérida (Mexico), 23 Feb. Czech Katerina Siniakova beat Belgium’s Ysaline Bonaventure 6-0, 7-5 on Thursday to advance to the quarter-finals of the Merida Open, a WTA 250 tournament that takes place on hard courts.
The Czech will face the Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto this Friday in the quarter-finals of the tournament which takes place in Mérida, a city in the south of the country, and which distributes a prize pool of $259,303.
In the first set, Siniakova effortlessly dispatched Belgium’s Ysaline Bonaventure 6-0, who double faulted twice and failed to hold serve.
Siniakova was precise in the second set, with six aces and several points won on her first serve, which allowed her to seal the set 7-5.
Before that, American Sloane Stephens beat Russia’s Varvara Gracheva 5-7, 6-2, 7-6(5), the ‘lucky loser’ of the tournament that demanded the most from the 2017 US Open champion.
Stephens was at his best until the second set, when he hit an ace and shot 77.3% on his first serve.
In the third, the American, with the support of the fans on her side, defined the match in a “tie brake”, after interrupting her rival’s serve twice.
In addition, Poland’s Madga Linette qualified for the quarter-finals of the Mérida Open after Hungary’s Panna Udvardy withdrew due to injury.
Linette, the world’s 21st tennis player and semi-finalist at the last Australian Open, won the first set 6-0 and lost 2-5 in the second, until Udvardy retired.
Udvardy sprained her right ankle in a rally in Game 8 of the second leg which kept her out of contention.
Also, Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson, who comes from the ‘qualy’, beat American Alycia Paks, the fifth seed in the contest, 6-4, 6-2.
The quarter-finals will take place this Friday when American Caty McNally will challenge Australian Kimberly Birrell, Linette Peterson, Italian Camila Giorgi Stephens and the Cocciaretto-Siniakova duel.