Wimbledon quarterfinalist Lulu Sun emerged on top after a grueling three-setter to defeat No. 1 seed and defending champion Daria Kasatkina 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 at the Eastbourne Open on Monday.
Dealing with blustery conditions, New Zealand’s Sun converted 4 of 6 break points in the first set and rallied from a 5-4 deficit on her way to closing out the opening frame. While Sun lost some momentum in the second, she regained control in the final set to eliminate her fellow countrywoman.
Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova needed 2 hours, 37 minutes to knock off Bulgaria’s Viktoriya Tomova 6-1, 6-7 (5) 7-6 (7), while Russia’s Anna Blinkova took Czech Marie Bouzkova to three sets for a 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 win to set up a meeting with Sun.
Elsewhere, Alexandra Eala — the young Filipina who grabbed headlines on the way to reaching the Miami semifinals earlier this year — continued her hot play by making quick work of Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti 6-0, 6-1. Other straight-set winners included Great Britain’s Francesca Jones 6-4, 7-5 over Belgian Greet Minnen and Australian Maya Joint over Ons Jabeur of Tunisia 7-5, 6-2.
HOMBURG
Having lost in their previous two meetings on grass, including last year’s final at this tournament, Donna Vekic got revenge with a straight-sets win over defending champ Diana Shnaider on Monday in Homburg.
Vekic drilled five aces to just one from Shnaider and converted on all three break points on the way to a 6-3, 6-3 victory. The overall head-to-head between the Croatian Vekic and the Russian Schnaider is now at 2-2.
Naomi Osaka of Japan took just over two hours to edge past Serbian qualifier Olga Danilovic 7-6 (6), 7-6(4), with Osaka compiling 16 aces. Denmark’s Clara Tauson, meanwhile, needed a three-set thriller to knock out Poland’s Magdalena Frech 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-3.
Other winners included Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova, Czech players Linda Noskova and Katerina Siniakova, and former World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, who will face Poland’s Iga Swiatek in the next round.
–Field Level Media
