Home favorite Sorana Cirstea advanced in straight sets, while No. 4 seed Petra Martic survived a topsy-turvy match to reach the Bucharest quarterfinals on a wet, long day.
Cirstea drew the unluckiest straw, finishing her 6-2, 7-5 victory over Maryna Zanevska well after midnight and in an often-driving rain. Nevertheless, it was an efficient win for the No. 5 seed, who broke the Belgian six times and won well over half of points on Zanevska’s serve.
Zanevska did not hold once in the opening set, hitting four double faults to no aces, as Cirstea put in a decent enough effort to jump ahead. The level of play went up in the second set, but Zanevska could not recover from a rocketed Cirstea return and untimely double fault in the final game.
Martic, meanwhile, fought through a marathon against American qualifier Claire Liu, winning 6-2, 6-7, 6-4 after failing to convert match points in the second set and squandering a 4-0 lead in the deciding frame. Liu played an uneven game herself, pummeling 34 winners and 52 unforced errors while winning just 43 percent of points on her serve.
The opening set was the most straightforward, as Martic built a 4-1 lead and closed out the frame on serve. She had countless opportunities to see out a similarly simple second set, but failed to consolidate a break at 4-3. She broke Liu again to serve for the set, but strung together three ugly unforced errors and was instead broken at love.
The Croat struck on the 18-year-old’s serve again, then played her way to three match points on her serve. She failed at every chance, however, and Liu slammed a forehand into an open court to force a tiebreak on the sixth straight break of serve. Liu controlled a long rally on her third set point to force a deciding set.
Martic’s 4-0 lead there suddenly vanished, as the American won four straight games herself — split by a brief rain delay — to level the set. But Liu fell behind 0-40 on her serve at 4-5, and Martic eventually pushed a forehand into the open court to secure her victory.
The world No. 60 will next meet Laura Siegemund, who defeated Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in a lengthy, rain-interrupted three-setter of her own. The German came through despite trailing by a set and a break, winning Schmiedlova’s final three service games to earn the win. Ons Jabeur and Vera Zvonareva will play early Friday to complete the quarterfinal lineup.
