No. 5 seed McCartney Kessler rallied past Spain’s Cristina Bucsa 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (4) on Thursday to reach the quarterfinals at the ATX Open in Austin, Texas.
Kessler trailed 4-3 in the third-set tiebreaker before ripping off the final four points of the match. The American saved 8 of 14 break points while winning 7 of 12 break-point opportunities. She and fellow American Jessica Pegula, the top seed, are the only seeded players still standing.
Kessler’s next opponent will be Romania’s Sorana Cirstea, who bounced No. 2 seed Diana Shnaider of Russia 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.
Greet Minnen of Belgium needed just 55 minutes to eliminate Dutch eighth seed Suzan Lamens 6-1, 6-0. In the final match of the night, the United States’ Caroline Dolehide overtook France’s Varvara Gracheva 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.
Merida Open Akron
Slovakia’s Rebecca Sramkova knocked out third seed Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil 7-6 (8), 6-3 in the second round at Merida, Mexico.
Sramkova hit seven aces and capitalized on Haddad Maia’s six double faults in the victory. Her next opponent will be Colombian Emiliana Arango, who trailed Great Britain’s Francesca Jones 3-6, 6-3, 3-4 when Jones retired due to cramps.
Top-seeded Emma Navarro of the United States had no trouble with Croatia’s Petra Martic, cruising to a 6-1, 6-2 victory.
Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez led 6-3, 3-1 when Poland’s Magda Linette retired from the match.
–Field Level Media
