5 out of 8 seeded players are still in contention during the WTA 250 Tennis in The Land tournament played in Cleveland after all the first round completed and half of the second round's matches already played after Tuesday's match-ups. Caroline Garcia does her job well as a top seed for now, as the French broke herself through after 4 consecutive loses and advanced into quarterfinals with two consecutive straight-sets wins.
The French started her campaign in Cleveland from a match with another player, who was seeking to get out of the losing series. Linda Fruhvirtova did not have too much chances against the current world's number 6 though, and noted her sixth consecutive lose in singles competitions. Second round's match against Peyton Stearns was quite more competitive one, but Garcia managed to prevail by 7-6(4) 6-3 to lock the spot in quarterfinals.
This was not a good start of the tournament for Czech players, as all three have been eliminated after pretty straight-forward matches. Barbora Krejcikova was a second seed in Cleveland, approaching just second tournament in US swing, one week after the first round exit in Cincinnati, where she lost in straight sets to Victoria Azarenka. This time, Krejcikova was playing against Clara Tauson, who has climbed up into main draw out of qualies. Getting the match practice on-site before the match against the favorized Czech was vital for Tauson, who has defeated Krejcikova in surprisingly easy manner with a score 6-4 6-1.
Linda Noskova will also not remember the appearance in Cleveland as a successful one, as she got crushed by Leylah Fernandez. The Canadian has already booked the place in the first WTA quarterfinal this season. After winning against Noskova in a one-way traffic match ended with a score 6-0 6-2, Fernandez faced Tauson in yesterday's second round's match. The Dane was not feeling good enough to take up the fight this day though, as she pulled out after the opening set, won by Fernandez by 6-0.
Xinyu Wang performed the only one upset from already contested matches of second round. The Chinese advanced into second round after a really intense battle against Clara Burel, won by 7-6(5) 4-6 7-5. Wang faced a really challenging opponent in next match, as she played against a sensational quarterfinalist of recently played WTA 1000 tournament in Cincinnati - Jasmine Paolini. The current world's number 56 managed to defeat the Italian by 6-4 6-3 and advanced into her second QF of the year, following the February's start in the WTA 250 event in Hua Hin.
It's a good tournament for Chinese players in general, as Lin Zhu joins her fellowcountry in the field of quarterfinalist after two convincing victories. Zhu did not give too many chances for 8th seed Anna Blinkova, winning by 6-0 6-3 in opening round and followed her good performance with another routine victory over Julia Grabher, eliminating the Austrian with a score 6-4 6-1.
The home fans can be a little bit disappointed, as Sloane Stephens is the only American still standing in a draw out of all 5 players supposed to play in Cleveland this week. The first disappointment appeared even before the start of the tournament, as Venus Williams who receive a wild card, has needed to withdraw due to a knee injury. Emma Navarro has also lived a bitter experience, losing in the opening round against Aliaksandra Sasnovich. Navarro was leading 5-0 in third set, but did not manage to close the match, as the Belarusian performed an amazing comeback to win it all by 3-6 4-6 7-5. Stephens has defeated Lauren Davis in an all-American first round's battle, winning by 1-6 6-3 6-1. The 2017 US Open champion plays against Mirra Andreeva in second round. The 16 years-old won her first professional match on hard courts this season, eliminating Tamara Korpatsch in tight three-setter with a score 6-0 3-6 7-5.
