Yasmine Kabbaj continued her run through her home tournament with a 6-2, 6-4 upset of third-seeded German Tatjana Maria in the Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem Round of 16 on Wednesday at Rabat, Morocco.
Kabbaj is just the second Moroccan to make a WTA quarterfinal in the Open Era, converting 6 of 8 break-point opportunities in the sweep. That was far from the only upset of the day at the event. No. 1 seed Janice Tjen of Indonesia fell 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 to Colombia’s Camila Osorio, No. 4 Yuliia Starodubtseva lost 6-3, 7-6 (3) to fellow Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina and No. 8 seed Ashley Parks was swept by Switzerland’s Jil Teichmann, 6-3, 6-4.
No. 2 Jessica Bouzas Maneiro of Spain escaped the same fate, rallying for a 2-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3 win over France’s Fiona Ferro. No. 5 Anna Bondar and No. 7 Panna Udvardy, both of Hungary, each won on Wednesday as well, Bondar 7-6 (6), 1-6, 6-0 over Colombia’s Emiliana Arango and Udvardy 6-4, 6-1 over Burundi’s Sada Nahimana. No. 6 Petra Marcinko of Croatia rallied for a 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (1) triumph over Ukraine’s Yelyzaveta Kotliar.
Internationaux de Strasbourg
Emma Navarro knocked off third-seeded Iva Jovic, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, in a battle of Americans to reach the quarterfinals in France.
After she was broken three times in the middle set, Navarro (six aces, six double faults) broke Jovic twice while opening a 5-0 lead in the deciding set to earn her first top-20 win of the season. Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian also pulled off an upset Wednesday, defeating No. 4 Clara Tauson of Denmark 6-1, 7-5.
Shuai Zhang of China swept past France’s Diane Parry 6-2, 7-5 in a battle of unseeded competitors to advance to a matchup with Navarro for a semifinal spot. No. 8 Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic advanced when Ukraine’s Oleksandra Oliynykova retired down 3-1 in the opening set.
–Field Level Media
