Top seed Marketa Vondrousova dropped the first set but recovered to squash qualifier Magdalena Frech 5-7, 6-1, 6-0 at the Internationaux de Strasbourg in France on Wednesday.
Frech, from Poland, was striving for her first win ever over a Top-10 player, but the Czech prevailed in two hours, 13 minutes. Frech fell to 0-14 against competition in the Top 10.
Vondrousova advanced to the quarterfinals, where she will face Anhelina Kalinina, a winner in three sets over wild card Fiona Ferro of France.
Also moving to the quarters were No. 2 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil, third-seeded Danielle Collins and No. 4 seed Madison Keys, all winners in straight sets.
A pair of seeded players fell in their matches Wednesday. No. 6 Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia fell to Poland’s Magda Linette in three sets, and No. 7 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, the defending champion, was ousted in three sets by France’s Clara Burel.
Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem
Unseeded Peyton Stearns upset the sixth-seeded Xiyu Wang of China 6-3, 6-1 in the second round in Rabat, Morocco.
In the quarterfinals, Stearns will meet the No. 4 seed, Lucia Bronzetti, who defeated fellow Italian Martina Trevisan 6-2, 6-3.
Other winners were Mayar Sherif of Egypt, Viktoriya Tomova of Bulgaria and Laura Siegemund of Germany. Kamilla Rakhimova of Russia advanced in a walkover.
–Field Level Media