Halep into last eight in St Petersburg
Romanian top seed Simona Halep advanced to the St Petersburg Ladies Trophy quarter-finals with a straight-sets win over Croatia's Ana Konjuh yesterday morning (Singapore time).
Fourth-ranked Halep crashed out of last month's Australian Open in the first round and had to rally from behind in both sets in Russia before overcoming 19-year-old Konjuh 6-4, 7-6 (7/2).
She will next come up against Russian wildcard Natalia Vikhlyantseva, 19, who upset her eighth-seeded compatriot Daria Kasatkina 7-6 (7/4), 6-2.
St Petersburg-born Svetlana Kuznetsova, seeded third, also claimed a quarter-final spot by beating Daria Gavrilova 6-1, 6-3 in a replay of last year's Kremlin Cup final.
Fifth seed Elena Vesnina beat her Russian compatriot Ekaterina Makarova 6-3, 6-1 to set up a meeting with Frenchwoman Alize Cornet. - AFP
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