Top seed Elise Mertens’ quest for a 3rd title at the WTA 250 Hobart International remains on track after her 6-2 6-3 win over Anna Karolina Schmiedlova on Wednesday, and she will play Arantxa Rus in the quarter-finals, who upset 8th-seeded Varvara Gracheva by the same score.
That would be amazing [to win the tournament again]. But we’re only in the quarter-finals – I need to win three more. Elise Mertens
No 2 seed Emma Navarro and 3rd-seeded Zhu Lin also advanced, while Yulia Putintseva and Daria Saville caused upsets in dispatching Marie Bouzkova and Sofia Kenin, the 5th and 6th seeds respectively.
Mertens cruised past former finalist Schmiedlova from Slovakia, after having come off a dangerous encounter with American Danielle Collins in her opener.
The Belgian World No 30 Mertens, who won in Hobart in 2017 and 2018, will meet Dutch veteran Rus for a place in the semi-finals.
“That would be amazing [to win the tournament again]. But we’re only in the quarter-finals – I need to win three more,” Mertens said.
Mertens holds a 2-0 head-to-head advantage over 33-year-old, but the pair have not met since 2015.
“She also speaks Dutch, so we know each other a little bit,” Rus said. “The last time I practised with her was I think in 2020 … it has been a long time.”
2nd-seeded saw off Magdalena Frech in straight sets on Wednesday in Hobart
© Steve Bell/Getty Images
Navarro needed 3 sets to overhaul Clara Burel in her opening round, coming from 2-0 down in the third set, 4-6 6-3 6-3, and improving her record against the Frenchwoman to 2-1.
She had no such difficulty against Polish qualifier Magdalena Frech, winning 6-3 6-3, in 81 minutes, to set up a Last 8 match with lucky loser Viktoriya Tomova from Bulgaria, the World No 77, who demolished 9th-seeded Tatjana Maria from Germany, ranked 42, in less than an hour, 6-0 6-1.
Australian wild-card Daria Saville also pulled off an upset by beating Kenin, a former Australian Open winner, 7-6(3) 6-1 on Wednesday night for a place in the quarter-finals.
3rd-seeded Zhu Lin from China, who edged out American Caroline Dolehide 5-7 6-3 6-4, on Wednesday night, will face Saville in the Last 8.
Another qualifier, Yuan Yue, upset the No 4 seed Wang Xinyu in an all-Chinese encounter, 7-5 6-3, to line up a quarter final against Putintseva, a qualifier from Kazakhstan, who upset Czech Marie Bouzkova, the 5th seed, 6-4 1-6 6-3.
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