Gasparyan d Bertens - 1st Top 10 win

Margarita Gasparyan is enjoying a wonderful run of form, having won the Tashkent title just a fortnight ago.

It is well documented that the 24 year old Russian underwent surgery after Wimbledon in 2016, and didn’t return to tennis until Moscow in October 2017.

Her ranking had slipped from 59 pre-surgery to no ranking at all.  The trifling points gained from Moscow and Dubai at the end of 2017, gave Margarita a ranking of 1121 to begin 2018.

Her first tournament played wasn’t until late April, an ITF level event in Uzbekistan where she bowed out in the semis. This performance, plus a an ITF final in Spain, improved her ranking, and she was at 299 when she captured the Tashkent trophy.

Now sitting at 138, Gasparyan has continued her rise back to where she belongs, defeating second seed, Kiki Bertens in round two of the Upper Austria Ladies Linz.

Although twice behind a break in the opening set, Gasparyan’s power and variety eventually wore down Bertens, breaking herself for a third time to lead 7-5.

The Russian standard slipped in set two, and Bertens stepped up her level, winning four straight games. All three break points were saved by Kiki and she levelled the match at 5-7 6-2.

A service break each in the decider, and it was 3-3, with many long baseline rallies featured.  Bertens had multiple chances to break open the set in the seventh and ninth games, but Gasparyan survived all the danger and a tie break was required to determine the outcome.

Here, Margarita delivered five consecutive points to lead 5-1, and there was no looking back.

A quarter final spot was booked with Gasparyan’s first ever victory over a top ten player, 7-5 2-6 7-6(3)

Other WTA Linz second round results 

• Camila Giorgi (5) defeated qualifier Jil Teichmann 7-6(2) 6-3, and will play Margarita Gasparyan in the quarter finals 
• Wildcard Andrea Petkovic defeated Tatjana Maria 6-1 6-3
• Kiki Mladenovic defeated Timea Babos 6-4 4-6 7-5, and will play Andrea Petkovic in the quarter finals 
• Qualifier Ekaterina Alexandrova defeated Johanna Larsson 3-6 6-1 6-1, and will play Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the quarter finals 
• Barbora Strycova (3) defeated lucky loser Kristyna Pliskova 6-0 6-1, and will play Alison Van Uytvanck in the quarter finals 

ATP Shanghai third round results 

• Roger Federer (1) fell over the line again, defeating Roberto Bautista Agut 6-3 2-6 6-4
• Kei Nishikori (8) defeated Sam Querrey 7-6(7) 6-4, and will play Roger Federer in the quarter finals 
• Borna Coric (13) defeated Juan Martin del Potro (3) 7-5 (retired)
• Matthew Ebden defeated Peter Gojowczyk 6-2 6-3, and will play Borna Coric in the quarter finals 
• Kyle Edmund (11) defeated Nicolas Jarry 7-6(5) 6-3
• Sascha Zverev (4) defeated Alex de Minaur 6-1 6-4, and will play Kyle Edmund in the quarter finals 
• Kevin Anderson (7) defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas (10) 6-4 7-6(1)
• Novak Djokovic (2) defeated Marco Cecchinato (16) 6-4 6-0, and will play Kevin Anderson in the quarter finals 

WTA Tianjin second round results 

• Katie Boulter defeated qualifier Barbora Krejcikova 6-3 1-6 6-3, and will play Karolina Pliskova in the quarter finals 
• Timea Bacsinszky defeated qualifier Misaki Doi 1-6 6-3 7-5, and will play Aryna Sabalenka in the quarter finals 
• Elise Mertens (3) defeated qualifier Jana Cepelova 6-2 6-3, and will play Su-Wei Hsieh in the quarter finals 
• Caroline Garcia (2) defeated qualifier Yuxuan Zhang 6-3 6-4, and will play Petra Martic in the quarter finals 

WTA Hong Kong second round results 

• Elina Svitolina (1) defeated Nao Hibino 6-0 6-3
• Qiang Wang (6) defeated Christina McHale 7-5 6-1, and will play Elina Svitolina in the quarter finals 
• Dasha Gavrilova (7) defeated Monica Niculescu 6-3 4-6 7-6(3)
• Shuai Zhang defeated qualifier Lesley Kerkhove 6-1 6-7(4) 6-1, and will play Dasha Gavrilova in the quarter finals