It was another great day of action at the Aegon Open in Nottingham as the first half of the second round matches got underway, giving all the unseeded women a chance to shine in the limelight on the grass courts at the Nottingham Tennis Centre. It was also a busy day in the men’s draw, with three seeds in action and a British qualifier. Here is a complete roundup of all the singles results on day three.
WTA Roundup
Ashleigh Barty booked her place in the quarterfinals for the second year in a row after dismantling qualifier Jana Fett in straight sets 6-2, 6-1. The unseeded Australian was dominant on serve and had the power to outlast her Croatian opponent from the baseline from early on in the match. After the match started with two service holds each Barty only lost one more game over the course of the match as she strolled to yet another win here.
Tsvetana Pironkova is also enjoying life back on the grass as she booked her place in the last eight with a strong win over Kurumi Nara 6-3, 6-2. The former Wimbledon semifinalist recovered from an early break down after a shaky start but was able to work her opponent around the court to finish the set strongly. Pironkova grew stronger in the second set and threatened to take it 6-0, but Nara held on to at least force her opponent to finish off the match on her own serve, a task which the Bulgarian completed.
Qualifier Kristie Ahn scored a big win over world number 77 Magda Linette 6-3, 6-1. The world number 131 needed just one hour and five minutes to secure victory, saving all three break points she faced en route.
Donna Vekic also continued her run here after the 20-year-old defeated Julia Boserup 6-3, 6-4, firing down nine aces on her way to reaching the last eight.
ATP Roundup
Third seed Dudi Sela made a very fast start in the opening match on Centre Court in his straight sets victory over Ricardas Berankis 6-3, 6-4. The Israeli raced into a 5-0 lead in the beaming sunshine at Nottingham Tennis Centre. The Lithuanian fought back by winning three games in a row but could not prevent dropping the opening set. It was Berankis who made the better start in the second set, securing a break in the fourth game on his way to moving into a 4-1 lead after saving a break back point. The Lithuanian had a chance to extend his lead but missed the opportunity and was punished for not capitalising on game points in the seventh game as Sela broke back with a backhand cross court passing shot winner. With the momentum now fully with the third seed, he took full advantage, breaking his opponent’s serve once again and closed out the match on serve to seal a quarterfinal berth.
There was also British success today as Lloyd Glasspool continued his remarkable run in Nottingham. Having come through qualifying and a tough first round encounter against fifth seed Go Soeda, he was today a 6-2, 6-3 winner over Australian Marc Polmans. The Brit raced into a 4-0lead and broke the Australian in the eighth game once again to take the set 6-2. In the second set Glasspool made the pivotal breakthrough in the eighth game and closed out the match to reach the last eight in Nottingham once again.
The other two second round matches today saw Sergiy Stakhovsky remain impressive on the grass, upsetting the eighth seed Ilya Marchenko 6-4, 7-6(9) and fourth seed Thomas Fabbiano got the better of Yuki Bhambri also in straight sets 7-6(8), 6-0.
Looking Ahead To Day Four
Day four will be another packed day of action in Nottingham as the Centre Court crowd get to enjoy watching the top seed Johanna Konta take on Yanina Wickmayer. Fourth seed Alison Riske and fifth seed Lucie Safarova will also be in action. On the men’s side Reilly Opelka opens the day’s play against second seed Marius Copil and Britain’s Brydan Klein going up against Sam Groth will be the final match of the day.
