At a tournament consisting of massive first round upsets, fourth seed Kirsten Flipkens kicked-off her campaign in the Istanbul Open with a 7-6 (5), 6-4, win over Donna Vekic.
The world No.58 endured a tough opening match against the Croatian teenager. Losing her service game three times during the first set, Flipkens clinched the opening set after almost an hour of play. The Belgian faced even more pressure in the second set after Verkic took the early initiative by racing to 3-0. Vekic was unable to sustain her lead as the fourth seed triumphantly battled back by winning six out of the next seven games to progress to the second round.
Flipkens, who is looking to win her first WTA title since the 2012 Bell Challenger, is the highest remaining seed left in the draw after the top three seeds suffered shock first round losses (Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, Yania Wickmayer and Lesia Tsurenko).
On Tuesday top seed Schmiedlová succumbed in straight sets to Greek world No.127 Maria Sakkari. The shock loss handed Sakkari her first ever win over a top-50 player. The 20-year-old continued her impressive run in Istanbul by defeating Hsieh Su-wei 6-3, 6-4, in the second round today. The latest triumph will take Sakkari into her first ever quarter-final on the WTA Tour.
In the last eight Sakkari will play fifth seed Danka Kovinic. The Montenegrin progressed to her second WTA quarter-final of the year by battling past former Wimbledon semifinalist Tsvetana Pironkova, 7-5,7-6(4). In both sets Kovinic was forced to recover from a break down to seal the win. The biggest issue troubling the 21-year-old was her second serve. Producing six double faults, she managed to only win 31% (9/29) of her second service points.
Second seed Yanina Wickmayer crashed out to Romania’s Andreea Mitu. The Belgian failed to capitalize on four out of her five break point chances as Mitu sealed the match 7-5, 6-4, after 95 minutes of play.
In the second round Mitu will play Switzerland’s Stefanie Voegele. The world No.116 defeated Turkish wildcard Ipek Soylu 6-2, 7-5.
Note: defending champion and third seed Lesia Tsurenko exit the tournament on Tuesday after losing to qualifier Sorna Cirstea (6-3, 6-4).
Order of play for Thursday
#IstanbulCup‘ta Perşembe gününün maç programı:
Order of play for Thursday, April 21st: pic.twitter.com/4QxeMVzlzU— Istanbul Cup (@istanbul_cup) 20 April 2016
