Former world junior number 1 and 2019 Australian Open Junior champion Clara Tauson advanced to her first WTA Tour quarter final with a 6-2 6-3 win over Timea Babos after 71 minutes at the Open 6ème Sens-Metropole in Lyon.
The 18-year-old Danish rising star came back from a break down in each set. Tauson converted her match point with an ace.
Babos earned an immediate break to take a 2-0 lead in the opening set. Tauson reeled off six consecutive games with three breaks to win the opening set 6-2.
Babos broke serve in the third game to take a 2-1 lead. Tauson got back in the fourth game to draw level to 2-2. Tauson reeled off three consecutive games from 3-3 with a break in the eighth game to win the second set 6-3.
Earlier this week Tauson beat Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-3 6-4 in the opening round. The Danish player beat a top 50 player for the second time in her career. She won the 2019 Australian Open Junior tournament beating Leylah Fernandez. Last year she upset Jennifer Brady (Australian Open finalist in 2021) at Roland Garros.
“It’s only the second time I have played a top 50 player, so I don’t have a lot of experience with that, but we can say it’s gone well these two times. Going into these matches, I just try to play as free as I can and show what I can do. I actually called my dad after the match and he said: ‘What, did you win ? She has won so many matches indoors. I had hoped that I would be drawn to play either her or Fiona Ferro because they are two really good players. I definitely want to play Simona Halep. She is just a champion. She plays 100 percent every tournament she plays and no matter what the score, she is always there. I love watching Petra Kvitova play. I want to play like her”, said Tauson
Tauson set up a quarter final against Camila Giorgi, who came back from one set down to Nina Stojanovic 1-6 6-1 7-5 after 2 hours and 22 minutes.
Giorgi earned her second break of the third set in the seventh game but Stojanovic broke back to draw level to 5-5. The Italian player saved two match points at 5-6 15-40 to hold serve at deuce. Giorgi did not convert her first match point at 6-4 but converted her second chance at 7-5.
Another former world junior number 1 Clara Burel overcame Alizé Cornet 6-1 1-6 6-3 to score the best win of her career by ranking.
Burel went up a 4-0 lead with a double break in the third set. Cornet pulled the break back to 3-4. Burel converted her third break point on the fourth deuce to win the decider 6-3.
Burel set up a match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich for a spot in the quarter final.
Last year’s Palermo champion Fiona Ferro reached the quarter final after Tereza Martincova withdrew from the match while she was trailing 6-2 4-1.
Viktorja Golubic rallied from one set down to beat Vera Lapko 5-7 6-4 6-3.
