STUTTGART, Germany (AP) — Fourth-seeded Elena Rybakina battled her way into the Porsche Grand Prix quarterfinals in a roller coaster 7-6 (3), 1-6, 6-4 victory over Veronika Kudermetova on Thursday.
Rybakina managed to stave off three break points towards the end of the opening set and then took control of the tiebreak. But her errors mounted in the second set as Kudermetova began to dominate.
Rybakina regained control in the decider and surged to 4-1 but more errors allowed Kudermetova to level. But the Kazakh player rallied again to take a tight service hold and close out the match.
She will face Jasmine Paolini after the Italian upset seventh-seeded Ons Jabeur 7-6 (8), 6-4.
Top-seeded Iga Swiatek beat Elise Mertens 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the Porsche Grand Prix quarterfinals on Thursday.
The top-ranked Swiatek will face next Emma Raducanu, who knocked out Linda Noskova 6-0, 7-5.
Sixth-seeded Marketa Vondrousova was also through to the quarterfinals after seeing off Anastasia Potapova 7-6 (5), 6-1. The Wimbledon champion has lined up second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka.
Eight of the top 10 ranked women are at the tournament, the main event in the first week of clay tournaments on the WTA Tour.
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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
