Rebeka Masarova of Spain moved into her second Hologic WTA Tour quarterfinal of the year with a comprehensive 6-3, 6-2 upset of No.5 seed Bianca Andreescu of Canada at the Bad Homburg Open on Tuesday.
In their first meeting, Masarova took just 68 minutes to storm past last year's Bad Homburg runner-up Andreescu. Masarova, ranked No.69, was never broken in her win over the 2019 US Open champion Andreescu, currently ranked No.51.
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Masarova hit seven aces in the showdown, one coming on set point in the opening frame. The Spaniard cracked open the second set by breaking for a 3-2 lead with a scorching backhand winner, and she took all of the remaining games as well to cruise home.
The victory bolsters Masarova's breakthrough year at tour-level. The 23-year-old made her first singles final in Auckland in the first week of the season en route to her Top 100 debut the very next week.
Masarova will now face Emma Navarro of the United States in the quarterfinals. Navarro reached the second tour-level quarterfinal of the year and her career with a narrow 7-5, 7-6(6) victory over Alizé Cornet of France on Tuesday.
"I’m super happy to get the win today," Navarro said, after her match. "I’m really happy to be able to play a few good matches and get some more grass-court tennis under my belt, and I’m excited for the next one."
Earlier on Tuesday, No.2 seed Liudmila Samsonova survived an upset bid, edging past Linda Noskova 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-3 to clinch a quarterfinal spot. Samsonova fired 16 aces in the clash on her way to victory over the 18-year-old Noskova.
"It was a very tough match today because she was playing really, really well," Samsonova said afterwards. "I knew that it was going to be really tough. I was trying to be very strong mentally, because her game is very hard. At the end, the mental part was working well, so I’m very happy."
No.8 seed Varvara Gracheva also moved into the quarterfinals with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Sara Errani. Errani served for the second set at 5-4 before Gracheva reeled off three games in a row to close out the 1-hour and 33-minute triumph.
