HONG KONG: Alison van Uytvanck of Belgium advanced to the quarter-finals of the Hong Kong Open by beating second-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 on Thursday.

Van Uytvanck will next face Slovak qualifier Jarmila Gajdosova.

Also advancing to the quarter-finals were third-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, fifth-seeded Zheng Jie of China and seventh-seeded Jana Cepelova of Slovakia.

Results:

Second round: Karolina Pliskova (CZE x3) bt Monica Puig (PUR) 6-3, 6-4; Jana Cepelova (SVK x7) bt Zhu Lin (CHN) 6-1, 6-3; Zheng Jie (CHN x5) bt Zhang Kai-Lin (CHN) 6-1, 6-4; Alison Van Uytvanck (BEL) bt Daniela Hantuchova (SVK x2) 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.

MLADENOVIC FALLS

QUEBEC CITY: Kazakstan’s Sesil Karatantcheva, seeking her first WTA title, rallied to defeat French third seed Kristina Mladenovic 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 on Wednesday to reach the WTA Quebec City quarter-finals.

Karatantcheva, ranked 195th, benefitted from 11 double faults by Mladenovic to advance. She will next face either Hungarian eighth seed Timea Babos or Croatian Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.

Booking a last-eight date were US fourth seed Shelby Rogers and Germany’s Tatjana Maria.

Julia Goerges of Germany tamed Melanie Oudin of the USA 6-2, 6-2.

Rogers outlasted compatriot Asia Muhammad 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/5) while Maria ousted American Madison Brengle 4-6, 6-4, 6-0.

Czech Andrea Hlavackova opened by defeating Poland’s Paula Kania 6-3, 6-0.

She will face Croatian second seed Ajla Tomljanovic in a Thursday second-round matchup.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2014