Seventh-seeded Mayar Sherif of Egypt saved two match points while rallying for a 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4 win over China’s Xinyu Wang on Thursday in the second round of the Abierto GNP Seguros in Monterrey, Mexico.
Wang served for the match at 6-5 of the second set, but Sherif broke to force a tiebreaker. Wang then jumped ahead 6-4 before Sherif took the final four points of the tiebreaker to extend the match. A service break in the fifth game of the final set was all Sherif needed, though it took her four match points to close out the win.
Sherif’s quarterfinal opponent will be top-seeded Caroline Garcia of France, who cruised past Spain’s Nuria Parrizas Diaz 6-3, 6-2.
Fourth-seeded Elise Mertens of Belgium posted a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 win over Romania’s Elena-Gabriela Ruse. She will oppose the winner of the late Thursday match between eighth-seeded Elisabetta Cocciaretto of Italy and Tatjana Maria of Germany in the quarterfinals.
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Germany’s Anna-Lena Friedsam prevailed in a marathon third-set tiebreaker, edging Russia’s Erika Andreeva 7-5, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (8) in second-round action at Austin, Texas.
Friedsam squandered three match points in the decisive tiebreaker before Andreeva had a match point at 8-7. Friedsam bounced back and finally sealed the win.
Friedsam’s upcoming quarterfinal opponent, Marta Kostyuk, also needed three sets to advance. The eighth-seeded Ukrainian defeated the United States’ Madison Brengle 6-3, 3-6, 6-0.
Fourth-seeded Danielle Collins won an all-U.S. matchup against Caty McNally 6-1, 6-1, and Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya ousted the United States’ Coco Vandeweghe 6-3, 6-1.
–Field Level Media
