Stuttgart, Germany : Coco Gauff battled back from a sluggish start to defeat Liudmila Samsonova 7-5, 6-1 and reach the quarter-finals of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart on Thursday.
The second seed dropped the opening three games but quickly recovered, reeling off four straight to seize control before cruising through the second set. Gauff finished with seven aces and will next face seventh seed Karolina Muchova, who rallied past Elise Mertens 1-6, 6-3, 6-0.
Top seed Elena Rybakina opened her campaign with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Diana Shnaider, while sixth seed Mirra Andreeva defeated Alycia Parks 7-6(3), 6-3.
Eighth seed Ekaterina Alexandrova was the only seeded casualty of the day, suffering a 6-1, 6-1 defeat to Linda Noskova.
Elsewhere, Leylah Fernandez outlasted Zeynep Sonmez 6-7(2), 6-1, 7-6(5) in a three-hour battle to set up a quarter-final clash with Rybakina.
At the Rouen Metropolitan Open, Iryna Shymanovich secured her first career top-50 win by beating Hailey Baptiste 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 to reach her maiden tour-level quarter-final.
She will next meet Germany’s Tatjana Maria, who advanced with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Dominika Salkova.
Second seed Sorana Cirstea progressed after Xinyu Wang retired, while Veronika Podrez upset Elisabetta Cocciaretto in three sets.
