TWO WTA Tour tournaments are at the quarter finals stage of the event, with unsurprising results across the board for the most part. We take a look at who is firing as the Tour gets to the pointy end of the season.

OSTRAVA OPEN WTA 500:

The four big guns in at the WTA Tour 500 have all reached the quarter finals, setting up some particularly tantalising matchups as the quartet battle it out to secure as many points as possible a month and a half out from the WTA Tour finals. Top four seeds, Iga Swiatek, Petra Kvitova, Belinda Bencic and Maria Sakkari have all reached the quarter finals, but for the most part have surprise opponents.

Seventh seed Elena Rybakina is the sole other seed who has been able to live up to her seeding and reach a quarter final, with three other unseeded players rolling on. In-form Swiss rising star Jil Teichmann, Estonian Anett Kontaveit and home nation representative, Czech Tereza Martincova are all among the final eight competitors. Swiatek and Rybakina will do battle in a matchup of the future stars, with Bencic to clash with Kontaveit, and Kvitova to try and quell and all-Swiss semi-final against Teichmann. Sakkari plays Martincova in the other quarter final.

There was a somewhat symmetry leading into Swiatek and Rybakina’s clash, with Swiatek knocking off Rybakina’s compatriot Yulia Putintseva in the second round, while Rybakina took down Swiatek’s compatriot Magda Linette. The biggest upset of the Round of 16 was Martincova’s straight sets, two-tiebreak win over fifth seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, to take on Sakkari who rolled past in-form Jelena Ostapenko 6-4 6-2.

In the bottom half of the draw, Teichmann continued her run after knocking out sixth seed Angelique Kerber in the first round, defeating United States’ Alison Riske in the Round of 16. Kvitova was made to work for her win with a home crowd behind her, getting over Russian Anastasia Potapova in three sets, 6-1 6-7 6-3 to face Teichmann in the final eight. Meanwhile Bencic took out Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo, as Kontaveit joined her in the quarter finals by dismissing another Spanish talent in ninth seed, Paula Badosa.

[1] Iga Swiatek (POL) vs. [7] Elena Rybakina (KAZ)
[7] Maria Sakkari (GRE) vs. Tereza Martincova (CZE)
[3] Belinda Bencic (SUI) vs. Anett Kontaveit (EST)
[2] Petra Kvitova (CZE) vs. Jil Teichmann (SUI)

COLUMBUS WTA 125:

There were no surprises at the WTA 125 event in Columbus, United States this week, with seven of the eight seeds, and a former highly-ranked player reaching the quarter finals. Top seed Ann Li moved through to the quarter finals without dropping a set to face compatriot Coco Vandeweghe in the final eight. A former Top 10 player, Vandeweghe took out sixth seed, Mexican Renata Zarazua to be the sole unseeded player left in title contention. The winner of that quarter final will face either compatriot and third seed Madison Brengle or China’s eighth seed Xinyu Wang.

In the bottom half of the draw, second seed Spaniard Nuria Parrizas Diaz has bulldozed a couple of lowly-ranked Americans on her way to the quarter finals, where she will face seventh seed Beatriz Haddad Maia. The Brazilian took out Australian Priscilla Hon in the second round in a tight 7-6 6-3 contest. The winner of that clash, will face the winner of another United States-China battle, with fourth and fifth seeds, Saisai Zheng and Lauren Davis locking horns in the other quarter final.

[1] Ann Li (USA) vs. Coco Vandeweghe (USA)
[3] Madison Brengle (USA) vs. [8] Xinyu Wang (CHN)
[5] Lauren Davis (USA) vs. [4] Saisai Zheng (CHN)
[7] Beatriz Haddad Maia (BRA) vs. [2] Nuria Parrizas Diaz (ESP)

Picture credit: WTA Tour