Alison Van Uytvanck qualified for the quarter-finals of the Astana Open, a WTA 250 hard-court tennis tournament with $ 235,238, in Nur Sultan on Wednesday in Kazakhstan.
Alison Van Uytvanck, 27, 89th in the world, defeated Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany, also 27, 131st in the world, in three sets – 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in just under two hours of play (1h56). This is the second quarter-final of the year for the Grimbergen player after Nottingham on English turf in June.
For a place in the last four, the Belgian number 3 and 2nd seed of this tournament, will play in the quarter-finals on Thursday – and for the first time – against the 21-year-old Russian Varvara Gracheva (N.7), 88th world, victorious for her part in the second round of the Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko (WTA 161), 32, 6-2, 6-4.
On Tuesday Greet Minnen (N.4 / WTA 76) was eliminated in the first round in singles by 20-year-old Slovenian Kaja Juvan, 94th player in the world, 2-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6 -4.
Greet Minnen (WTA 72) and Alison Van Uytvanck (WTA 70), doubles partners, retired in the first round. First seeds, they lost the first set 6-2 and led 0-1 in the next before retiring after 42 minutes against Russians Vitalia Diatchenko and Yana Sizikova. The cause of the abandonment is not known and true disappointment for everyone that was betting on the match from Meridian.
