Vekic eases into Nottingham Open quarterfinals
NOTTINGHAM, England (AP) — Former champion Donna Vekic eased past Chloe Paquet 6-1, 6-2 Thursday to reach the quarterfinals of the Nottingham Open, which played its matches indoors for the second straight day.
The second-seeded Vekic, who won the tournament in 2017, wrapped up the win in just 54 minutes.
Vekic next plays the eighth-seeded Kristina Mladenovic, who defeated Australia's Astra Sharma 6-1, 7-5.
Rain forced organizers to switch all the first-round matches to an indoor hard-court facility on Wednesday after the opening two days were completely washed out, and a fourth consecutive day of rain Thursday forced another switch indoors.
Top-seeded Caroline Garcia advanced with a 6-3,6-1 win over Maia Lumsden, the last of six British women who started in Nottingham. Garcia next faces Romanian qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse, who defeated Viktorija Golubic 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-4.
Sixth-seeded Ajla Tomljanovic progressed earlier with a 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-2 win over Britain's Harriet Dart, while Tatjana Maria defeated American Bernarda Pera 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-3.
Maria Sakkari and Ivana Jorovic also advanced.