DAY three at both the Stuttgart and Istanbul fantasy tournaments and plenty of interesting matches were on show, with majority of the day’s matches going to three sets.

At Stuttgart, second and third seeds Naomi Osaka and Kiki Bertens joined the fray, with Bertens having a much easier time of it than Osaka though both still came away with convincing wins. Bertens took on China’s Qiang Wang, downing her in straight sets despite Qiang having plenty of momentum early. But Bertens was just too strong, winning the second set with ease without a single game going Qiang’s way, winning 6-4 6-0. Osaka had a similar first set against wildcard German, Anna Lena Friedsam, but had to fight a second set comeback from Friedsam who came out firing in the second to win the first three games before Osaka put her own on the board. Osaka’s never-back-down attitude came out in full force coming into the third set however, seeing Friedsam off 6-4 3-6 6-3.

Both other Stuttgart seeds in this half of the draw predictably came out on top too, with both winners having their own challenges throughout that saw their respective opposition get a look in. Sloane Stephens was stopped in her tracks by Garbine Muguruza, but was strong early taking the Spaniard to a tiebreaker before giving away the deciding point to hand the first set to Muguruza. Sixth seed Muguruza used that to her advantage in the second, applying better pressure to deny Stephens any easy points, eventually coming away with the 7-5 6-2 victory. Eighth seed Dayana Yastremska had an inconsistent time against Taiwanese qualifier Su Wei Hsieh, winning the first set but lucky to do so before  struggling in the second with Hsieh well and truly playing for the game. But the Ukrainian talent found her form at the right time in the final set, winning every game and collecting the 7-6 4-6 6-0 win.

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At Istanbul, Liudmila Samsonova collected the biggest win of the day, downing second seed Kazakh Elena Rybakina in almost two hours of play. While Rybakina won the first set and looked the goods early, Samsonova proved she was more than ready for the match and showed her quality in the second set, knocking Rybakina for six and not allowing a look in, downing the second seed 6-0 in the second. The Russian was too strong again in the third despite Rybakina’s comeback effort, eventually collecting the 3-6 6-0 6-3 victory. Iga Swiatek continued her stellar run, with the young gun defeating sixth seed Amanda Anisimova in a tough battle which also went to three sets, with a blockbuster third set taking both players to the edge before Swiatek collected the win in the tie-breaker,  3-6 6-3 7-6. Swiatek continues to impress on the international stage, and while she is still only 18 she is a huge threat here.

Where Rybakina and Anisimova fell to lower ranks, third seed Croatian Petra Martic ran down her wildcard opposition in Mihaela Buzarnescu with ease. Buzarnescu put up a strong fight early but was unable to compete with Martic’s building pressure in the second, eventually going down in the 6-4 6-1 match-up. The final match of the day saw Carla Suarez Navarro survive a hot-footed Coco Vandeweghe, with the American wildcard putting up a tough fight early to win the first set before falling short at the end, losing puff and going down to Suarez Navarro 6-7 6-4 6-0. Vandeweghe has shown some quality form in the lead-up to the competition so this second round loss is sure to be a real thorn in her side.

In tomorrow’s fixtures the Round of 16 continues, featuring some familiar names at both competitions and both top seeds competing. Stuttgart will see four seeds compete, with Karolina Pliskova set to take on talented Kazakh Yulia Putintseva, while at Istanbul two American seeds in Serena Williams and Madison Keys will take the court.

STUTTGART ROUND OF 16 RESULTS: 

[2] Naomi Osaka (JPN) defeated [WC] Anna Lena Friedsam (GER) 6-4 3-6 6-3
[3] Kiki Bertens (NED) defeated Qiang Wang (CHN) 6-4 6-0
[6] Garbine Muguruza (ESP) defeated Sloane Stephens (USA) 7-5 6-2
[8] Dayana Yastremska (UKR) defeated [Q] Su Wei Hsieh (TAI) 7-6 4-6 6-0

ISTANBUL ROUND OF 16 RESULTS:

Liudmila Samsonova (RUS) defeated [2] Elena Rybakina (KAZ) 3-6 6-0 6-3
[3] Petra Martic (CRO) defeated [WC] Mihaela Buzarnescu (TUR) 6-4 6-1
Iga Swiatek (POL) defeated [6] Amanda Anisimova (USA) 3-6 6-3 7-6
Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP) defeated [WC] Coco Vandeweghe (USA) 6-7 6-4 6-0