World No.5 Elina Svitolina found her rhythm early in the contest to power past France’s Alize Cornet at the Birmingham Classic.
The second seed won 6-4 6-2 in one hour and 22 minutes to set up a quarterfinal against Romania’s Mihaela Buzarnescu.
“First time in quarterfinals here in Birmingham, I couldn’t wish for a better start,” said Svitolina.
“I was expecting a good match. [Cornet] plays well against the top players, she beat a couple of them in the past, and she really steps up her game. I knew how I had to play, and I’m very happy with the performance today.”
Magdalena Rybarikova, who climbed almost 90 places last year to reach a career-high No. 17 in March, showed she might rise even further after rallying against Kristina Mladenovic 3-6 6-2 6-1 to advance to the last eight.
This blistering backhand winner from @ElinaSvitolina is our shot of the day from the #NatureValleyClassic! pic.twitter.com/mH5K188dSm
— WTA (@WTA) June 20, 2018
The Slovak accelerated toward victory against the former top-10 player from France with an array of slice ground strokes, clever approaches and sharp volleys. The range of shots worked excellently on the lush surface and helped her take control midway through the second set.
Rybarikova last year reached the Wimbledon semifinals. She is a former champion in Birmingham, winning the title in 2009.
In the first round she beat third seed Karolina Pliskova for the loss of only five games, but she found it tougher against Mladenovic.
“I started to play very well,” Rybarikova said of her improvement from the fourth game of the second set against Mladenovic.
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“She served great to begin with and I struggled with my returns, but I kept fighting and my game improved a lot.
“I think I’d been a bit passive. The key was when I played more cross-court slices and drops and made an early break in the second set.
“That’s the way I am trying to play on grass. I am thankful that I have the game to do that. This court here really suits my game.”
Rybarikova next faces Slovenian qualifier Dalila Jakupovic, who on Tuesday saved four match points while beating seventh-seed Elise Mertens of Belgium.
Jakupovic followed up Wednesday by getting past 18th-ranked Naomi Osaka of Japan, who recently beat four former top-ranked opponents. Osaka was forced to retired injured after losing the first set 6-3.
Australia’s top two women Ashleigh Barty and Daria Gavrilova are in action on Thursday against Julia Goerges and Petra Kvitova respectively.
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