IT was a mixed bag of results on Day 5 at the Upper Austria Ladies Linz, both in terms of scores and rounds, with the remainder of the Round of 32 complete and the first three matches of the Round of 16 played.

Looking to the Round of 32 first, and it was a mostly predictable day at the office with four seeds taking the court and just the one defeated in Jil Teichmann. Teichmann may have got the jump early over Frenchwoman Oceane Dodin, but was challenged well in the second and well and truly overcome in the third set as Dodin ran away with the 1-6 6-4 6-2 victory. While Teichmann excelled with 12 aces and three double faults, she struggled to effectively capitalise on her first serve points winning just 56.1 per cent. While Dodin’s effectiveness was not much higher at 61.5 per cent, she was a lot more consistent on the return, too, allowing her to gain the upper hand.

While seventh seed Teichmann was overcome, the same could not be said for second seed Elise Mertens, fifth seed Veronika Kudermetova and sixth seed Nadia Podoroska, with the trio all coming away with wins. Mertens struggled in the first set against Anhelina Kalinina before lifting her game, with the 2-6 6-1 6-2 match completed in two hours and five minutes. Overall, Mertens was much more clinical and consistent than her Ukrainian opposition, winning 72.9 per cent of points off her first serve and much more effective on the return, too. While both players hit four double faults, Mertens capitalised well with seven aces to Kalinina’s one, and was much more consistent both saving and converting break point opportunities.

For Podoroska, it was a closer encounter but still a clean straight sets victory against Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu, coming away with the 6-4 6-4 victory credit to a 59.8 per cent service point winning rate and consistency on her break point opportunities. Mertens and Podoroska were certainly tested more than Kudermetova who came away with a 6-0 6-0 result against Barbara Haas, utterly blowing the Austrian away in 53 minutes.

Heading to the Round of 16, and just the one seed participated in Ekaterina Alexandrova, outlasting Varvara Gracheva in a tough first set before sparking up for the 7-5 6-1 victory. Alexandrova may not have been her most effective on serve but was certainly efficient, serving at 62 per cent but winning a terrific 80.6 per cent of her first serve points compared to Gracheva’s 58.3 per cent. It was that service rate that saw Alexandrova dominate in the second set, capitalising well and reducing her errors, not dropping any double faults in the second after racking up six in the first.

Greet Minnen took on Barbora Krejcikova in the longest match of the day, with the duo battling it out in the first two sets for one apiece from tiebreakers. While it was Krejcikova who brought the match to a close in just under three hours for the 5-7 7-6 6-4 results, there was no doubt Minnen put on her fair share of a show with the duo looking very similar on the stats sheet and a credit to the work-rate and hustle showcased on court.

The final match saw Jana Fett and Aliaksandra Sasnovich go head to head, with this three-setter looking very different to the previous one as Belarusian Sasnovich came away with the 3-6 6-1 6-3 victory in 131 minutes. Fett’s error rate was her downfall, registering a better first serve ratio and winning rate but piling on the double faults, with her 13 double faults overawing her seven aces. Sasnovich’s consistency was paramount to her success, not necessarily having the flashy moments but ultimately winning 56.5 per cent of service points and 52.7 per cent of return points, credit to her consistent effort.