British number one Elena Baltacha is through to the quarter-finals of the ITF $100,000 Sparta Prague Open after beating Urszula Radwanska of Poland 6-1 6-4.
Baltacha, ranked 70 in the world and seeded sixth for the tournament, will play Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia tomorrow for a place in the last four of the prestigious clay-court event.
The British number one said, “I kind of picked up where I left off yesterday (against Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino in the previous round) but I think I also added a bit more today.
“She put me under a bit of pressure so I had to be a bit more crafty. I’ve added a lot of variety to my game this year and I really had to use that against Radwanska because she’s a good player.
“I had a bit of a blip when I was serving at a set and 3-2 and she kind of took it to me a bit more but in the end I played a really good game at 4-4 and she had a fall, where I think she might have hurt her finger a little bit.
“After that I played probably my best game of the match to serve it out.
“Sevastova will be tough because she’s been ranked a lot higher and she’s a clever player – she doesn’t play with a lot of pace but she hits very fluently and she’s got great hands.
“The tactics might be bit different against her to my first two matches but the nice thing is that I feel like I’ve got a lot more options now.”
Lizzie Flint, Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine
Photo credit: Christine Walsh/The Emilia Group
