Zapopan (Mexico), Sep 12 (IANS) Top seeds Elise Mertens and Veronika Kudermetova were stunned at the Guadalajara Open by Elsa Jacquemot and Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva, respectively.

The former junior stars impressed with upset wins, both advancing to their first WTA 500-level quarterfinal.

The two former junior stars, both of whom won girls’ singles titles at Grand Slams in 2020, are through to their second career, and biggest, quarterfinal at WTA Tour level as a result of their big wins.

Kasintseva last reached the final eight of a tour-level event three years ago in Seoul as a lucky loser, while Jacquemot got this deep at an event just last month at the WTA 250 Tennis in the Land event in Cleveland.

A junior champion at the Australian Open five years ago, Kasintseva needed 1 hour and 31 minutes to take out the second-seeded Kudermetova, 6-4, 6-2, for her first career Top 50 victory. Her best previous win was against then-World No. 57 Zhu Lin at last year’s Mutua Madrid Open.

In the match that was completed this Thursday, a day after being interrupted by rain, Jacquemot pulled off a comeback to pull off one of the biggest upsets and knock out the top favorite with 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win.

Jacquemot, kept her cool to come from behind in a match. The 2020 junior Roland Garros champion took the court trailing by a set but up 3-2 in the second set against No. 1 seed Mertens. The Belgian racked up 62 unforced errors in all — and Jacquemot won eight of 10 games upon resumption to establish a healthy advantage.

At the start of the second set, both players broke each other’s serve, and Jacquemot was ahead 3-2 when rain appeared and the match was suspended. Both players returned to the Pan American Tennis Center’s center court a day later, and Jacquemot was motivated. With a break, she extended her lead to 4-2 and cruised to victory, tying the match and forcing a third set.

Jacquemot needed every bit of the cushion after a total of 2 hours and 25 minutes of play: From 5-1 down, Mertens won three straight games to close the gap to 5-4 before Jacquemot finished off her own career-best win by ranking, WTA reports.

The two 20-year-olds are two of five unseeded quarterfinalists so far in Guadalajara, as Colombia’s Emilana Arango, 17-year-old American Iva Jovic, and wild card Nikola Bartunkova are also through to the final eight.

–IANS

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