BUCHAREST, Romania -- Former WTA Doubles World No.1 Barbora Krejcikova, who has had a recent rise in the singles rankings, moved into the quarterfinals of the BRD Bucharest Open on Thursday, after No.7 seed Aliona Bolsova of Spain unfortunately suffered an ankle injury during their second-round encounter while trailing 6-0, 3-2.

Krejcikova of the Czech Republic has already won four clay-court singles titles on the Challenger circuit this season, and is now into her first WTA singles quarterfinal since reaching that stage in Bastad nearly two years ago.

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Prior to Bolsova’s injury, Krejcikova had been in control of the match, breaking Bolsova three times and staving off all four break points she faced. The Czech hit 19 winners to just eight unforced errors before the Spaniard was forced to retire after twisting her ankle during the final point of the 3-2 game in the second set.

Krejcikova, who has risen during the year from outside the Top 200 to her current ranking of World No.132, will face either No.3 seed Veronika Kudermetova of Russia or Italian qualifier Martina Di Giuseppe in Friday’s quarterfinals.

It was one-way traffic for Krejcikova in the first set, as she quickly raced ahead to 3-0 after a thunderous love service hold. Bolsova dropped serve for a second time with a long forehand error, as the opening frame started to slip away from the Spaniard.

There was little Bolsova could do to prevent Krejcikova from closing out the first set with ease, as the Czech slammed big returns to quickly reach triple set point at 5-0. Krejcikova converted the first one with a forehand winner, and she finished the stellar set with 12 winners to just a single unforced error.

Bolsova came out firing in the second set, getting on the scoreboard in the second set and using powerful forehands to attain her first four break points of the match in Krejcikova’s first two service games. The Czech, however, was able to erase all of those, and held on to her service each time.

Krejcikova hit three winners to open the 2-2 game before Bolsova fought back to 40-30 with aggressive play. The Czech held serve by winning an all-court rally, but that point ended with Bolsova twisting her ankle and collapsing to the court in pain. The Spaniard was able to stand and walk off the court after the ankle was mobilized by the trainer, but she sadly was unable to continue play.

More to follow...