Jelena Ostapenko reaches quarter-finals of St Petersburg Open

French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko advanced to the quarter-finals of the St Petersburg Open with a 7-6 (8/6) 6-3 win over Vera Zvonareva.

The second seed withstood a strong start from the former world number two, who only returned to the sport last summer after having time off to have a baby, before clinching victory in one hour and 39 minutes.

“I think I was fighting, staying focused on every point. That helped me a lot. Plus, I served really well,” the 20-year-old told wtatennis.com.

Number eight seed Daria Kasatkina breezed through after a 6-2 6-1 win over Alize Cornet but it was not a good day for three other seeds.

Elena Rybakina was in a tough battle with third seed Caroline Garcia before prevailing 4-6 7-6 (8/6) 7-6 (7/5).

Sixth-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was sent home after a 6-4 6-4 defeat to Ekaterina Makarova and seventh seed Elena Vesnina was beaten 6-2 6-0 by two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova.

At the Taiwan Open fourth and fifth seeds Timea Babos and Yulia Putintseva advanced with straight-sets wins over Arina Rodionova and Kai-Chen Chang respectively.

There were also wins for Sabine Lisicki, Kateryna Kozlova, Monica Niculescu and Dalila Jakupovic.