Strasbourg 2020: Thursday's Order of Play and Match Points

ORDER OF PLAY

PATRICE DOMINGUEZ -- 10:00 a.m. start
Jelena OSTAPENKO (LAT) vs. Nao HIBINO (JPN)
[Q] ZHANG Shuai (CHN) vs. [5] Elena RYBAKINA (KAZ)
Jil TEICHMANN (SUI) vs. [2] Elina SVITOLINA (UKR)
Not before 4:30 p.m.
Katerina SINIAKOVA (CZE) vs. [4] Aryna SABALENKA (BLR)

COURT 1 -- Not before 1:00 pm, after suitable rest
[4] Hayley CARTER (USA) / Luisa STEFANI (BRA) vs. [2] Gabriela DABROWSKI (CAN) / Jelena OSTAPENKO (LAT)

MATCH POINTS

Elina Svitolina and Jil Teichmann will be squaring off for the first time in the Internationaux de Strasbourg quarterfinals on Thursday. World No.5 Svitolina played her first event post-hiatus last week in Rome, where she reached the quarterfinals as a two-time champion (2017-2018). 

Last year, Teichmann lifted her first two career titles, both of which came on clay, at Prague and Palermo. Despite the tour’s hiatus, the 23-year-old Swiss has continued to build on this momentum in 2020, with a runner-up finish at Lexington helping her reach a career-high ranking of World No.52 (currently at World No.54).

Aryna Sabalenka and Katerina Siniakova will also contest their first meeting on Thursday. Sabalenka is one win away from reaching her second straight Strasbourg semifinal in her two career appearances at the event. Last year, she reached the final four in her tournament debut before falling to eventual champion Dayana Yastremska.

Siniakova is into her first WTA singles quarterfinal of the season this week. The former WTA Doubles World No.1 is 13-34 in her career against Top 20 opposition in singles play, and she is aiming for her first Top 20 win of the season against World No.12 Sabalenka.

Elena Rybakina and Zhang Shuai have faced off once before, and it was for a championship trophy. Rybakina notched a straight-set win over Zhang in the Hobart final earlier this season to capture her first WTA singles title of 2020, and her second WTA singles title overall.

Rybakina's two victories this week pull her currently level with Elise Mertens for the most match-wins on the WTA thus far in 2020, with 26. Alongside her Hobart run, the World No.18 has reached three additional finals this season.

Jelena Ostapenko takes a 2-0 head-to-head lead into her match with Nao Hibino. Their most recent meeting came at Seoul in 2017, where Ostapenko defeated Hibino 6-2, 6-2 in the round of 16, en route to the Latvian's second of her three career WTA singles titles.

Ostapenko has notched a pair of wins this week in her Strasbourg tournament debut. The 2017 Roland Garros champion made it into the elite eight after World No.8 Kiki Bertens retired during their second-round match on Wednesday. Despite the retirement, that match still counts as the 12th Top 10 win of Ostapenko's career.