Ajla Tomljanovic was unperturbed by the free-swinging Elena-Gabriela Ruse, as she withstood the Romanian’s barrage of fierce groundstrokes to take the opening set 7-5. The Aussie star was more consistent, especially when it mattered most, saving six break points while breaking her opponent five times to win in straight sets 7-5 6-3 on Day 4 of the inaugural Prudential Hong Kong Tennis 125.
Blinkova, who had already beaten world No. 3 Elena Rybakina at the Australian Open and No. 5 Jessica Pegula at Indian Wells earlier this year, converted 5 of 13 break points, as she knocked out former world No. 1 and two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep 6-2 6-1.
“I was prepared to play a lot of long rallies coming into this match against a great champion. I just tried to stay solid in the beginning, but as the match wore on, I was hitting better and better. I always play well here in Hong Kong, so it feels great to be back again, and thanks for your support!”
Seventh-seeded Anna Blinkova has played well here before, reaching the semifinals of last year’s WTA 250 Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open. She has finished in the WTA Year-End top 100 five of the past six seasons and reached a career-high No. 34 in 2023. In 2024 alone, she beat world No. 3 Elena Rybakina at the Australian Open, world No. 5 Jessica Pegula at WTA 1000 Indian Wells, and No. 20 Bia Maia-Haddad at the WTA 500 Bad Homburg.
Clara Tauson of Denmark, the No. 6 seed, was made to work double overtime, as she lost serve twice to drop the opening set against the ultra resilient former world No. 19 Varvara Lepchenko before she was able to finally close out a tricky second round victory 2-6 6-3 6-4.
Tauson’s quarterfinal opponent is 145th-ranked Nao Hibino, who was mired in her own three-setter against Dalma Galfi, the 2015 ITF Junior World Champion. In a tightly-fought match, Galfi served 14 aces to frustrate Hibino but the Japanese manged to secure a clinching late break in the ninth game of the third set and held on to prevail 6-4 3-6 6-3.
World No. 65 McCartney Kessler, who won the WTA 250 Cleveland title earlier this year, was ruthlessly efficient, as she broke Thailand’s Mananchaya Sawangkaew four times while saving all five break points she faced to advance with a 6-3 6-2 victory. Kessler, the fifth seed, will next face Ajla Tomljanovic for a place in the semifinals. The American played college tennis for the University of Florida, where she was a three-time All-American (twice in singles, once in doubles) and the 2022 SEC Player of the Year.
Fourth-seeded world No. 62 Varvara Gracheva’s no-nonsense approach saw her save four break points, while she broke Hailey Baptiste four times in all to runaway with a 6-3 6-3 win. Gracheva had knocked out world No. 6 Maria Sakkari in the first round of this year’s French Open and beat 28th-ranked Boulter to reach the semifinals of the WTA 125 Paris. Gracheva will next face Suzan Lamens, who earlier upset No. 8 seed Anna Bondar of Hungary.
Top-seeded world No. 8 Emma Navarro jumped out to lead by a set and a double break in the second but let slip a 4-0 lead before she regrouped in time to go through in straight sets with a 6-2 6-4 win over Australian Kimberly Birrell. Navarro, who reached the quarterfinal at Wimbledon and semifinal at the US Open this year, will take on Anna Blinkova next up.
Navarro: “I had opportunities early in the second set but I didn’t take them and she fought hard to get back. I’m glad I was able to close it out in the end. It’s been awesome here in Hong Kong and thank you everyone for coming out tonight.”
Action on Centre Court on Thursday sees Varvara Gracheva of France go up against Suzan Lamens of the Netherlands first up, followed by Ajla Tomljanovic versus McCartney Kessler and Emma Navarro against Anna Blinkova.