WTA roundup: Maria Sakkari ousts Rebecca Marino

LONDON (News Wires) – Top seed Maria Sakkari of Greece rallied for a 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Canada’s Rebecca Marino in the Round of 16 of Rothesay Open in Nottingham, England.

Sakkari advances to the quarter-finals against No. 7 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil, a 6-2, 7-6 (4) winner over Yuriko Miyazaki of Great Britain.

Australian and No. 5 seed Ajla Tomljanovic rolled in straight sets to advance, as did sixth-seeded Alison Riske.

Elsewhere, Shelby Rogers upset No. 3 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan in straight sets at the Libema Open in Netherlands.

Rogers took advantage of five double faults to roll past Rybakina 6-2, 6-4 in the Round of 16.

Fourth-seeded Tamara Zidansek also lost to an American as Catherine McNally ousted the Slovenian 6-1, 6-1 in 61 minutes.

Second-seeded Belinda Bencic of Switzerland defeated Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya 7-6 (2), 6-4, and No. 7 Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia also advanced in straight sets.

Sixth-seeded Veronika Kudermetova dropped the first set but advanced when fellow Russian Anna Blinkova was forced to retire in the second set. And Belgium’s Alison Van Uytvanck upset countrywoman and No. 8 seed Elise Mertens 6-2, 6-3.

Meanwhile, Canada’s Denis Shapovalov was eliminated early once again.

The Richmond Hill, Ont., native was upset by home favourite Oscar Otte 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4) at the Stuttgart Open.

Otte, of Germany, is through to the quarter-finals, where he’ll face French player Benjamin Bonzi.

Shapovalov also lost his first match at the French Open, where he fell to 28th-ranked Holger Rune of Denmark.

Fellow Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime fared better against a local favourite at the Libema Open in the Netherlands, beating Tallon Griekspoor 7-6 (2), 7-6( 5) to advance to the quarter-finals.

The Montreal native fired 13 aces and saved both break points he faced.

Auger-Aliassime never had a chance to break Griekspoor, but he dominated the first-set tiebreak and won on his first set point with Griekspoor serving.

Auger-Aliassime led the second tiebreak 6-3 before Griekspoor made it close by winning two points on serve. That gave Auger-Aliassime the opportunity to serve for the match, and he converted the match point.