WTA roundup: McCartney Kessler advances to Austin QFs

No. 5 seed McCartney Kessler rallied past Spain's Cristina Bucsa 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (4) on Thursday to reach the quarterfinals at the ATX Open in Austin, Texas.

Kessler trailed 4-3 in the third-set tiebreaker before ripping off the final four points of the match. The American saved 8 of 14 break points while winning 7 of 12 break-point opportunities. She and fellow American Jessica Pegula, the top seed, are the only seeded players still standing.

Kessler's next opponent will be Romania's Sorana Cirstea, who bounced No. 2 seed Diana Shnaider of Russia 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. Greet Minnen of Belgium needed just 55 minutes to eliminate Dutch eighth seed Suzan Lamens 6-1, 6-0.

The final match set for Thursday pitted France's Varvara Gracheva against American Caroline Dolehide.

Merida Open Akron

Slovakia's Rebecca Sramkova knocked out third seed Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil 7-6 (8), 6-3 in the second round in Merida, Mexico.

Sramkova hit seven aces and capitalized on Haddad Maia's six double faults in the victory. Her next opponent will be Colombian Emiliana Arango, who trailed Great Britain's Francesca Jones 3-6, 6-3, 3-4 when Jones retired due to cramps.

Two more matches remained Thursday night: Poland's Magda Linette against Turkey's Zeynep Sonmez, and No. 1 seed Emma Navarro against Croatia's Petra Martic.

--Field Level Media