IN what was a day of upsets, only one seed remains in the Open BLS De Limoges – reigning title holder Ekaterina Alexandrova. The number one seed and two-time winner knocked out one of the only two remaining French women in the draw, Oceane Dodin 6-3 6-4 to advance through to the quarter finals stage. The sole remaining home nation surviver in Pauline Parmentier also bid farewell to the tournament, bundled out by Belgium’s Greet Minnen, just a day after Parmentier knocked off second seed, Caroline Garcia. Minnen won 6-3 7-5 to book a spot in the final eight.

It was better news for Romania, with both Sonia Cirstea and Ana Bogdan securing a spot in the quarter finals. Cirstea took down Sara Sorribes Tormo who in Round 1 had defeated third seed Belgium, Alison Van Uytvanck. Cirsea won the Round of 16 encounter in straight sets, 6-3 6-3, while country woman Bogdan came back from losing a tight first set tiebreaker to defeat eighth seed Bernada Pera from the United States, 6-7 6-2 6-4.

In the remaining two matches, two more seeds fell. Highly touted sixth seed Russian, Anna Blinkova looked good in the early stages winning the opening set 6-3, before going down to Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich, 3-6 6-1 7-5. The last singles match of the day saw Swiss talent Jil Teichmann escape some tense moments, to defeat fourth seed American Jennifer Brady with an epic second set tiebreaker taking 26 points to decide before Teichmann advnaced through to the final eight.

Looking ahead to the quarter finals, the tournament favourite and number one seed Alexandrova will hope to continue her campaign with a win over Bogdan. If the 105th ranked Romanian can cause an upset, there is potential for an all-Romanian semi-final. Country woman Cirstea takes on the last remaining American in the draw in qualifier Gibbs. In the other half of the draw, Sasnovich faces Teichmann and Samsonova meets Minnen in what will guarantee a surprise finalists in a couple of days time.

Meanwhile it is semi-finals in the doubles, with number one seeds, Blinkova and Romanian Monica Niculescu teaming up against third seed Spanish duo, Sorribes Tormo and Georgia Garcia-Perez. In the other match, Alexandrova joins Georgian, Oksana Kalashnikova as the fourth seeds, coming up against second seeded Czech Republic’s Renata Voracova and Sweden’s Cornelia Lister.