Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic is though to the quarterfinals at the Toyota Thailand Open after a 7-6(0), 6-1 win over Ukraine’s Kateryna Kozlova.
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Photo: Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia plays a backhand. (Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)
The turning point came at 5-3, 40-15 with the world no. 95 Kozlova serving for the set. Tomljanovic won the point with a winner to keep the set alive, a shot by the Australian had skipped off the line.
This was followed by a double-fault to take the score to deuce. On the next point, Kozlova was in control and had Tomljanovic chasing hard before the Australian played a drop shot that Kozlova then played just wide. Tomljanovic kept herself in the set when she hit a backhand down-the-line winner to break.
World no. 49 Tomljanovic held serve then broke with another backhand winner for a 6-5 lead. She was not able to serve out the set and found herself in a tie-breaker. Kozlova fell in a heap and saw Tomljanovic race to a 7-0 win in the breaker.
In the second set, it was all Tomljanovic. She broke in the second game and then held for a 3-0 lead. At this stage, the Ukrainian called for the trainer to have some treatment to her right foot.
After play resumed Kozlova was again broken. She was now showing her frustration as she hit balls into the ground and bounced her racquet against the end of the court. Kozlova found herself with three break points in the next game and converted when Tomljanovic hit a drop shot into the net. That would be the last game the Ukrainian player would win.
Tomljanovic will play the no. 4 seed and world no. 42 Zheng Saisai from China in a quarterfinal match. This will be their first head-to-head meeting. Zheng advanced to this stage with a 6-2, 6-4 win against Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu.
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