CROATIA’s Donna Vekic and the United States’ Danielle Collins became the first two players to reach the quarterfinals of the San Diego Open by winning their second-round matches on Wednesday (Thursday in Manila).
Vekic crushed the Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 6-2, and Collins ousted Italy’s Martina Trevisan 6-2, 6-4.
While Vekic won 70 percent of her first-serve points, Pliskova wound up at 48 percent in that category. Collins finished with a 4-0 edge in aces and with seven service breaks to Trevisan’s four.
In the last match of the night, fourth-seeded Jessica Pegula crushed Coco Vandeweghe 6-3, 6-1 in an all-American, second-round matchup.
The day’s other match was the completion of a first-round encounter that was suspended due to rain Tuesday night. Sixth-seeded Coco Gauff completed a 6-3, 6-3 victory over qualifier Robin Montgomery in an all-US showdown.
Eighth-seeded Anna Bondar of Hungary beat Great Britain’s Harriet Dart 7-6 (3), 6-4 in second-round play, earning a quarterfinal berth at Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Bondar jumped ahead 4-0 in the first-set tiebreaker, lost the next three points, the won the last three. Bondar scored the only service break of the second set to go up 2-1, then served out the match, though she had to save four break points in the final game to hold on.
Italy’s Jasmine Paolini defeated Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska 6-4, 6-1 while Germany’s Jule Niemeier topped Russia’s Kamilla Rakhimova in second-round action. In the final two first-round matches, China’s Xinyu Wang upset fifth-seeded Magda Linette of Poland 6-2, 6-4, and Hungary’s Dalma Galfi rallied past ninth-seeded Lucia Bronzetti of Italy 4-6, 6-2, 6-4. — Field Level Media