London | WTA Roundup – Krejcikova upset in Budapest / Sorribes Tormo advances in Lausanne

After the grass-court season ends, these two weeks are filled with WTA 250 clay-court events in Europe before the tour heads to North America.

Budapest, Hungary – WTA 250 Hungarian Grand Prix

China’s Xiyu Wang upset Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic, 6-1 7-6(1) in the top seed’s opening match at the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest on Wednesday.

Krejcikova just wrapped up her Wimbledon by clinching a 5th women’s doubles major title alongside Katerina Siniakova, but the transition back to clay in Budapest proved fruitless for the former Roland Garros champion.

Wang advanced, saving 5 of the 6 break points she faced as the Czech’s tough year on the singles court continues following an arm injury that sidelined her for 3 months.

Krejcikova recorded 8 double-faults and converted only 1 of her 6 break opportunities against Wang, who will face Romania’s Ana Bogdan in the 2nd-round of the WTA 250 clay-court tournament.

No 2 seed Martina Trevisan won her 2nd-round match against Ukraine’s Kateryna Baindl, 6-4 7-5, to move into the Last 8 at the Római Tennis Academy, where the 26th-ranked Italian will play Hungarian Anna Bondar, the 9th seed who replaced Czech Tereza Martincova in the draw, and was a 6-2 6-3 winner over Greek qualifier Despina Papamichail on Wednesday evening.

Siniakova reached the 2nd-round when Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina, the No 4 seed, retired on Wednesday with the score standing at 6-3 in favour of the Czech, and she will play Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto next.

China’s Zhang Shuai, the No 6 seed, defeated Georgian Ekaterine Gorgodze, 7-5 6-1, to advance to the 2nd-round in Hungary, and the World No 37 now will face Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic, but American qualifier Bernarda Pera upset 5th-seeded Aliaksandra Sasnovich from Belarus, 7-5 6-2, and awaits the Cocciaretto versus Siniakova result.

Meanwhile, another Ukrainian, 33-year old Lesia Tsurenko, won the longest WTA main draw match of 2022 to date, and 7th-longest of the Open Era, in 3 hours and 53 minutes, edging past Russian Kamilla Rakhimova, 6-7(1) 6-4 7-5.

Rakhimova served for the win, and held a match point at 5-4 in the 3rd set but it was Tsurenko who reached the Last 8 where the World No 97 will face the winner of the match between Kazakh Yulia Putintseva, the No 3 seed, and Brazilian lucky loser Laura Pigossi.

Simona Waltert reached her first WTA quarter-final at the Ladies Open Lausanne by defeating Cristina Bucsa

Lausanne, Switzerland – WTA 250 Ladies Open Lausanne

No 3 seed Irina-Camelia Begu from Romania fell at the hands of Anastasia Potapova, 6-4 6-2, at the Ladies Open Lausanne on Wednesday, after a 1 hour 39 minute match in which the Russian saved 13 of 14 break points.

Potapova’s opponent in the quarter-finals will be one of two young Germans who square off in Round 2 on Thursday, with Jule Niemeier coming off a superb run to the Wimbledon quarter-finals, and qualifier Eva Lys looking impressive in her victory over Varvara Gracheva in the 1st-round of the main draw.

Spain’s 4th seed, Sara Sorribes Tormo, was more fortunatethan Begu, advancing to the quarter-finals of the WTA 250 clay-court event with a 6-4 6-2 defeat of France’s Clara Burel, while Croatia’s Petra Martic won by the same score against Russia’s 18-year old qualifier, Erika Andreeva.

Sorribes Tormo will take on a Frenchwoman in the Last 8, either Caroline Garcia, the 6th seed, or Leolia Jeanjean, who advanced to Round 2 by a walk-over against Germany’s Tatjana Maria.

Garcia is looking to translate a 10-3 grass run over to the clay but has only played 3 matches on the surface this season.

Martic, meanwhile, faces a Swiss Miss in her quarter-final, compatriots Belinda Bencic and Susan Bandecchi who meet for the first time and on their home soil.

Interestingly, just one year separates the two Swiss in age, but the elder Bencic is currently ranked 216 spots ahead of Bandecchi.

Meanwhile, Swiss wild-card Simona Waltert followed up her stunning win over top seed Danielle Collins on Tuesday with a 3-set win over Cristina Bucsa from Spain to make her first WTA quarter-final.

The 21-year old served for the match at 5-4 in the 2nd set but had to overturn a 3-1 deficit in the third before outlasting the Spaniard.

Waltert awaits the outcome of Thursday’s match between 21-year-old qualifier Olga Danilovic from Serbia, who has yet to drop a set through 3 matches in Lausanne, and Russian Anna Kalinskaya.