THE second day of Round of 16 action at the 2020 Internationaux de Strasbourg saw just the one seed proceed through to the quarter finals, with third seed Kiki Bertens retiring in the latter stage of the third set and seventh seed Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova downed by Czech talent Katerina Siniakova. 

The one seeded winner of the day was Aryna Sabalenka, with the fourth seed Belarusian coming from a huge 1-6 deficit in the first set to outlast her Russian opposition in Anna Blinkova. It was a slow start from the world number 12, as Sabalenka struggled to control the contest against Blinkova who had confidence and momentum on her side early. Blinkova’s ability to force errors from her opposition did not go unnoticed, although the unforced errors the way of Sabalenka went down remarkably as the contest continued and the Belarusian lifted her game, forcing Blinkova to go on the defensive to eventually come away with the 1-6 6-4 6-2 victory.

“After the first set, I’m really proud of myself that I found my game,” Sabalenka said after the match. “I fight through everything, and through the work I found my rhythm. I’m really happy with the match. “She played really well, she pushed me a lot and I’m happy that I could handle it.”

Sabalenka will next take on Siniakova, who had an excellent start against seventh seed Alexandrova and weathered the storm to maintain control for a 6-2 6-4 victory. Like Blinkova, Siniakova forced errors from Alexandrova, seeing Russian rack up 31 unforced errors and five double faults while maintaining an excellent 65.5 per cent win rate off her serve. While Alexandrova hit more winners, Siniakova was cleaner and more efficient, making the most of her opportunities even when the second set drew even at 4-4, eventually outlasting for the victory.

Jelena Ostapenko joined the winners list despite a tough battle against Bertens, and while the Dutch world number eight had a couple of opportunities to run out with victory, winning the first set and up 4-2 midway through the second, Ostapenko came away with the victory – albeit by default as Bertens retired at 2-4 in the third set. Ostapenko coughed up a whopping 11 unforced errors to two in the first set before cleaning up her act, finishing relatively evenly stats-wise in her second top 10 win on the clay, finishing up with the 2-6 6-4 4-2 victory.

“She retired, it’s not the best way to finish the match, but I’m glad that I was fighting because it might have been over in two sets,” Ostapenko said post-match. “I was a set and 4-2 down and I’m glad I fought to the end.

“I couldn’t find my game and I think I was rushing a little bit… Then in the second set, I started to play better, a bit smarter, not go for every shot. I tried to play some different games, dropshots and kick serves, and I think that worked pretty well.”

 Ostapenko will take on Nao Hibino in the quarter finals after the Japanese talent defeated Kazakh Zarina Diyas in straight sets after a huge first set set the tone for the match. Very little separated the duo throughout, especially in the first set, though it was Hibino’s 73 per cent winning rate off her first serve that seemed to be the difference in the second, combined with her seven break points saved at 100 per cent, denying Diyas from getting a real look in.