Croatian tennis player Petra Martić has advanced to the quarter-final of the WTA tournament in Birmingham after defeating her Russian rival Margarita Gasparyan 6:3, 7:6 (4).

Martić defeated the 24-year-old after an hour and 40 minutes of play, reports HRT on June 19, 2019. 

In the first set, Petra had a break for the 3:1 lead. However, after taking away her opponent’s service, Martić asked for a medical time-out for pain in her wrist. Fortunately, after she bandaged her wrist, she successfully continued the match.

The second set brought a lot more uncertainty. Petra had a break already in the first game, though Gasparyan immediately equalized at 1:1. At 3:2, Gasparyan once again took Martić’s service to lead 4:2, but Martić did not give up and equalized at 4:4, after which the set went into the thirteenth game.

In the tiebreak, both players had two mini-breaks, but at a 4:3 lead, Martić once again took her opponent’s serve for the 5:3 advantage, which she held for a place in the quarterfinal.

This was the second encounter for Martić and Gasparyan and the second win for the 28-year-old Croatian player. The two played for the first time in the semi-final of this year's tournament in Istanbul, where Martić reached her first WTA title.

Petra Martić will play last year's Wimbledon semi-finalist, Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, who in the second round overcame British player Johanna Konta 6:3, 6: 4. Martic and Ostapenko have not played each other so far.

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