Google News Hungarian Grand Prix: Claire Liu saves match points, pips Yulia Putintseva; enters QF
by ABBEY JOHNSON
Two of the three seeds who played their second-round matches at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Wednesday lost. These were fourth seed Yulia Putintseva and fifth seed Tatjana Maria. Claire Liu beat Putintseva 6-3, 7-6(8) in two hours and 13 minutes.
The match was a roller-coaster with both players dominating the proceedings in bits and pieces. In the first set, the first two games went the returner’s way and both players traded breaks to get on the scoreboard. In the third game of the set, Putintseva dropped her serve again and Liu went on to maintain her lead until the seventh game when she got broken to love.
But Putintseva wasn’t able to take advantage of the break back and conceded her serve for the third time in the match. In the ninth game, Liu went on to successfully serve out the set on the first of the two game points she had.
The second set just slipped away from Putintseva. The Kazakh led 5-0 and had a total of seven set points across the set. Four of these set points came on Liu’s serve in the sixth and 10th games of the set. In the ninth game, Putintseva brought up a set point on her serve.
Finally, two more set points came and went for the world no. 60 in the tie-break. Eventually, Liu bagged the win on her third match point in the tie-break.
Hungarian Grand Prix: Anna Karolina Schmiedlova survives
In the last-eight, Liu will play eighth seed Anna Karolina Schmiedlova.
The Slovakian was the only seed who advanced to the quarters on Wednesday. The 28-year-old, ranked 83rd in the world, came from a set down to beat Tamara Korpatsch 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in two hours and 26 minutes. Meanwhile, Hungarian wildcard entrant Fanny Stollar stunned Maria 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(2) in their second-round match after two hours and 18 minutes of play.
Stollar will play either Kateryna Baindl or fellow Hungarian, Amarissa Toth next. Lastly, Kaja Juvan defeated Astra Sharma in an all-qualifiers’ second-round match at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Slovenian won 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 in two hours and 33 minutes.