Martic, Kontaveit battle into Palermo quarters

07 Aug 2020
By redaction

Petra Martic and Anett Kontaveit are into the last eight at the Palermo Ladies Open.

Petra Martic and Anett Kontaveit battled into the Palermo Ladies Open quarter-finals, while Dayana Yastremska cruised through.

Martic, the top seed at the WTA International event that marks the return of the Tour amid the coronavirus pandemic, overcame Liudmila Samsonova 5-7 6-4 6-2.

Croatian Martic, the world number 15, needed two and a half hours to get past the qualifier in Italy on Thursday.

She said it was not a particularly pleasant experience.

“She’s not the type of player I like to play: she plays really fast, hits really flat and low. And especially on these courts it can be tricky,” she said in a video press conference. “Overall I didn’t really enjoy myself out there. But I realized right away that it was not going to be easy and I was going to have to fight.”

She will face Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the last eight.

Yastremska v Giorgi matchup in quarterfinals

Kontaveit was also pushed before recording a 3-6 6-2 6-2 victory over Laura Siegemund.

The No. seed moves

Anett Kontaveit took the match over Siegemund, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.#PLO20 pic.twitter.com/PJeSoDpJ28

— wta (@WTA) August 6, 2020

Yastremska and Camila Giorgi will meet in a quarter-final after respective wins over Oceane Dodin and Kaja Juvan.

Talented Ukrainian seventh seed Yastremska was too good for Dodin 6-2 6-4, while Giorgi beat Juvan 3-6 6-2 6-4 to make it three Italians in the last eight.