Friday 2 August 2019 16:21, UK
American teenager Amanda Anisimova moved into her fifth quarter-final of the 2019 season as the last eight were decided at the Mudabala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose.
Anisimova, who beat Simona Halep to charge into the French Open semi-finals earlier in the year, has been enjoying her time on the hard courts.
The 17-year-old is currently at a career high ranking of 23 in the world. After growing up playing on a hard court, she counts the surface as her favourite and that showed in a 6-2 6-2 victory over fellow American Madison Brengle on Thursday.
As a former winner of the Junior US Open she's no stranger to playing in front of a home crowd either and her progression into the quarter-finals sees her reach that point for a fifth time this season.
Next, the young American will face China's Zheng Saisai, who brushed aside the eighth seed Danielle Collins 6-2 6-0.
Donna Vekic booked her place in the last eight courtesy of a 6-4 6-4 victory over Victoria Azarenka but it wasn't as plain-sailing as the scoreline suggests.
Vekic, who is seeded fifth in San Jose, had to rally back from 4-1 down in the first set and then claw back a 2-0 deficit in the second in order to prevail.
"I just tried to stay in the rallies and tried to make it a little bit more physical, try to get in the match, get some rhythm," said Vekic post-match.
"I started playing better, feeling better, tried to go a little bit more for my shots, hit a little deeper and that was the key in the end."
As Vekic re-grouped Azarenka became unsteady on her serve. Not only did double faults prove to be a sticking point but a final tally of 26 unforced errors to 13 winners told the story.
The American qualifier Kristie Ahn will encounter the fifth seed Vekic next and she is the only unseeded player to make it through to this point in the tournament.
Ahn secured that accolade after a straight sets 6-3, 6-3 win over the third seed Elise Mertens. It was the qualifier's first win over a Top 20 player and she's bidding to become the first player to progress through qualifying and into the last four since 2012.
Carla Suárez Navarro set up a quarter-final encounter with Aryna Sabalenka after battling past Bethanie Mattek-Sands 3-6 6-1 6-1.
Sabalenka has beaten the Spanish player in both of their previous meetings and both were on hard courts last year.
The last quarter-final in San Jose will see the top seed Elina Svitolina taking-on last year's runner-up Maria Sakkari. Earlier this year, the duo met in the third round of the Wimbledon Championships and on that day the Ukrainian prevailed.
In the US, Svitolina made light work of Daria Kasatkina in the Round of 16 with a 6-3 6-1 victory whilst Sakkari went the distance against Mayo Hibi and came out on top by 4-6 6-4 6-2.
Meanwhile at the Citi Open in Washington the two remaining women's quarter-finals were decided on Thursday.
Hsieh Su-wei worked incredibly hard to make her way past Russian qualifier Varvara Gracheva.
The fourth seed, who is the only remaining seed in the draw, came through a two hour and 43 minute marathon 7-5 5-6 7-6 (8-6).
She will now take on another wildcard, the American Catherine McNally.
McNally, who is just 17 years old, got the better of her fellow American Christina McHale 6-3 1-6 6-3 to advance into the last eight.
The teenager will also be taking part in the doubles alongside Coco Gauff and the pair will face-off against Anna Kalinskaya and Miyu Kato on Friday.
