PRAGUE (AP) — Top-seeded Anett Kontaveit advanced the quarterfinals at the Prague Open after a 6-4, 6-3 victory over 17-year-old Lucie Havlickova on Thursday.
Kontaveit broke the Czech wild-card entry, who won the French Open junior title this year, at 3-3 in the second set and won the next two games.
The second-ranked Estonian, who advanced to the final at last week’s Hamburg European Open, will next face Anastasia Potapova after the seventh-seeded Russian overcame China’s Lin Zhu 6-4, 7-6 (8).
Lucky loser Nao Hibino of Japan stunned defending champion Barbora Krejcikova by rallying to a 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 victory to improve her record to 2-0 against the second-seeded Czech for her third career top-20 win. Krejcikova, the 2021 French Open champion, failed to served out the match at 5-3 in the second set.
In another upset, 17-year-old Czech player Linda Noskova beat fifth-seeded Alizé Cornet of France 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 (7) to reach her first career WTA quarterfinal. Noskova won the junior title at the French Open last year.
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