Mladenovic victorious in three setter to reach Ricoh Open quarter-final

Kristina Mladenovic (WTA-32) has secured a place in the last eight at the Ricoh Open. The third seed needed three sets to beat qualifier Natalia Vikhlyantseva (WTA-254): 5-7 , 6-3 , 6-4.

Mladenovic started the match with a break, after which she could have served for the set at 5-4. However, she had two successive mishits.

Vikhlyantseva fought back to 6-5, eliminated a game point by Mladenovic and won the set after another mishit from her opponent.

The French player ran away to a 5-2 advantage in the second set. She lost one break, but at 5-3 she broke her opponent again thanks to a misplaced backhand by Vikhlyantseva.

Mladenovic looked as if she was going to force an early break in the decisive set, but in the seventh game Vikhlyantseva broke back with a nice backhand winner. The 19-year-old player made it 4-4, but after an ill-fated forehand she finally lost the match.

Mladenovic will meet qualifier Elise Mertens (WTA-171) in the quarter-finals. The Belgian defeated lucky loser Aleksandra Krunic (WTA-119) from Serbia 6-4, 7-6(3).

Vandeweghe

Sixth seed CoCo Vandeweghe (WTA-43) had no real problems to reach the quarter-final. The 2014 winner easily beat Japan’s Nao Hibino (WTA-69): 6-2, 6-3.

The American will probably meet second seed Jelena Jankovic (WTA-24). But the Serbian, who was a finalist in 2007, has to beat Russia’s Evgeniya Rodia (WTA-120).