BRISBANE, Australia - No.7 seed Anastasija Sevastova dropped just three games against Sorana Cirstea on her way to the Brisbane International quarterfinals.
Despite coming into the match trailing 0-2 in the pair’s head to head record, Sevastova turned the tables to put together a tidy performance and win 6-2, 6-1 in just 57 minutes.
“I probably didn’t start out serving that great like last match [against Samantha Stosur], but I found my rhythm,” she told WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen. “And the return was good, and overall I think I played a solid match.”
“I knew how [Cirstea] was playing, and I lost to her in Miami, which was a tough match to lose. I played very solid and didn’t make too many mistakes, which is important because she can hit through you.”
Sevastova employed her stifling, all-court game to break the Romanian six times in nine chances. She struck 14 winners and unforced errors across the two sets, while Cirstea racked up the unforced errors with 34 to 12 winners, as well as six double faults.
The Latvian will go on to face Aleksandra Krunic, who advanced after Garbine Muguruza was forced to retire from their match trailing 5-7, 7-6(3), 1-2, due to cramping.
“Two years ago Krunic and I played in Istanbul first round and I won 6-0, 6-0,” Sevastova recalled. “The next week we played in Rabat, and I lost 6-1, 6-2. That’s basically the whole story you need to know about our head to head! I hope this one is going to be a better match.”
Also through to the quarterfinals is Alize Cornet, who knocked out Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in straight sets, 6-1, 7-5 earlier in the day.
